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Completed Phase 4 Interventional Results available

Erector Spinae Versus Paravertebral Nerve Blocks for Breast Surgery

ClinicalTrials.gov ID: NCT03549234

Public ClinicalTrials.gov record NCT03549234. 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.

ClinicalTrials.gov public records Last synced Sep 9, 2026, 6:14 PM EDT

Data is sourced from official ClinicalTrials.gov public API records. Always review the official ClinicalTrials.gov record for the latest information.

Official title

A Randomized, Subject-Masked, Active-Controlled, Parallel-Arm Clinical Trial Comparing Erector Spinae and Paravertebral Nerve Blocks

Brief summary

Reproduced verbatim from the official ClinicalTrials.gov record. Not medical advice.

Following painful surgical procedures of the breast, postoperative analgesia is often provided with a paravertebral nerve block (PVB). For intense, but shorter-duration acute pain, a single-injection of local anesthetic is used with a duration of approximately 12 hours. The PVB has several limitations: it can decrease blood pressure, and very rare-but serious-complications have occurred, including neuraxial injection, neuraxial hematoma, and pleural puncture. An alternative block has been described: the erector spinae plane block. The theoretical benefits include ease of administration since it is a plane superficial to the PVB and therefore easier to identify and target with ultrasound (therefore increasing success rate); and an increased safety margin: there are few anatomic structures in the immediate area which could be injured with the needle; and, the target plane is much further from the intrathecal/epidural space relative to the PVB. Lastly, the plane may be easier to catheterize for continuous peripheral nerve blocks relative to the relatively-small volume PVB. There are therefore multiple theoretical reasons to prefer the erector spinae plane block. Unfortunately, it remains unknown if the analgesia provided by this new technique is comparable to that provided with the PVB. The investigators therefore propose to compare these two techniques with a randomized, subject-masked, active-controlled, parallel-arm, human subjects clinical trial.

Study identification

NCT ID
NCT03549234
Recruitment status
Completed
Study type
Interventional
Phase
Phase 4
Enrollment
100 participants

Conditions and interventions

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
Jul 11, 2018
Primary completion
May 7, 2019
Completion
May 7, 2019
Last update posted
Jul 23, 2020

2018 – 2019

United States locations

U.S. sites
1
U.S. states
1
U.S. cities
1
Facility City State ZIP Site status
UCSD Medical Center (Hillcrest and Thornton) San Diego California 92103

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 NCT03549234, 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 Jul 23, 2020 · Synced Sep 9, 2026

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Open the official record

The complete protocol, eligibility criteria, and contact information for NCT03549234 live on ClinicalTrials.gov.

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