Improving Postamputation Functioning by Decreasing Phantom Pain With Perioperative Continuous Peripheral Nerve Blocks: A Department of Defense Funded Multicenter Study
Public ClinicalTrials.gov record NCT03461120. Field values are reproduced from the official study page; the official ClinicalTrials.gov record remains the source of truth for eligibility, enrollment, and contact information.
Data is sourced from official ClinicalTrials.gov public API records. Always review the official ClinicalTrials.gov record for the latest information.
Official title
Improving Postamputation Functioning by Decreasing Phantom Limb Pain and Opioid Use With Perioperative Continuous Peripheral Nerve Blocks: A Multicenter RCT
Brief summary
Reproduced verbatim from the official ClinicalTrials.gov record. Not medical advice.
When a limb is amputated, pain perceived in the part of the body that no longer exists often develops, called "phantom limb" pain. The exact reason that phantom limb pain occurs is unclear, but when a nerve is cut-as happens with an amputation-changes occur in the brain and spinal cord that are associated with persistent pain. The negative feedback-loop between the injured limb and the brain can be stopped by putting local anesthetic-called a "nerve block"-on the injured nerve, effectively keeping any "bad signals" from reaching the brain. A "continuous peripheral nerve block" (CPNB) is a technique providing pain relief that involves inserting a tiny tube-smaller than a piece of spaghetti-through the skin and next to the target nerve. Local anesthetic is then introduced through the tiny tube, which bathes the nerve in the numbing medicine. This provides a multiple-day block that provides opioid-free pain control with no systemic side effects, and may prevent the destructive feedback loop that results in phantom limb pain following an amputation. We propose a multicenter, randomized, triple-masked (investigators, subjects, statisticians), placebo-controlled, parallel arm, human-subjects clinical trial to determine if a prolonged, high-concentration (dense), perioperative CPNB improves post-amputation physical and emotional functioning while decreasing opioid consumption, primarily by preventing chronic phantom limb pain.
Study identification
- NCT ID
- NCT03461120
- Recruitment status
- Completed
- Study type
- Interventional
- Phase
- Phase 4
- Enrollment
- 208 participants
Conditions and interventions
Interventions
- Experimental continuous peripheral nerve blocks Drug
- Control continuous peripheral nerve blocks Drug
Drug
Eligibility (public fields only)
- Age range
- 18 Years and older
- Sex
- All
- Healthy volunteers
- Healthy volunteers not accepted
This page does not interpret eligibility. Detailed inclusion and exclusion criteria are on the official ClinicalTrials.gov record.
Study timeline
- Start date
- Mar 23, 2018 (Actual)
- Primary completion
- Aug 18, 2026 (Actual)
- Completion
- Aug 18, 2026 (Actual)
- Last update posted
- Sep 17, 2026
2018 – 2026
United States locations
- U.S. sites
- 8
- U.S. states
- 4
- U.S. cities
- 4
| Facility | City | State | ZIP | Site status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| University California San Diego | San Diego | California | 92103 | — |
| Naval Medical Center San Diego | San Diego | California | 92134 | — |
| Mass. General Hospital | Boston | Massachusetts | 02114 | — |
| Brigham and Women's Hospital | Boston | Massachusetts | 02115 | — |
| Boston VA | Boston | Massachusetts | 02130 | — |
| Fairview Hospital | Cleveland | Ohio | 44111 | — |
| Cleveland Clinic | Cleveland | Ohio | 44195 | — |
| University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center | Houston | Texas | 77030 | — |
Site contact phone numbers, emails, and investigator names are intentionally not displayed here. Open the official ClinicalTrials.gov record for site contact information.
About this trial record page
- What this page shows
- Public field values for ClinicalTrials.gov record NCT03461120, including study identification, conditions, interventions, eligibility (age, sex, healthy volunteer), timeline, and U.S. site list.
- What this page does not do
- No medical advice, eligibility judgments, treatment recommendations, study quality scoring, or AI-generated medical summaries. No site contact phone numbers, emails, or investigator names.
- Where the data comes from
- Sourced from the official ClinicalTrials.gov public API. The official record is the source of truth.
- Last refresh
- Last update posted Sep 17, 2026 · Synced Oct 21, 2026
Related: full search, browse by condition, browse by drug or therapy, browse by sponsor, browse by U.S. city.
Open the official record
The complete public registry record, listed eligibility criteria, and available contact information for NCT03461120 live on ClinicalTrials.gov.