Cryoanalgesia Study

Pain, Postoperative Clinical Trial

Official title:

Intraoperative Cryoanalgesia for Pain Management After Sternotomy: A Randomized Pilot Trial

Clinical Trial Details — Status: Recruiting

Administrative data

• NCT number: NCT05859061
• Other study ID #: STU00218457
• Status: Recruiting
• Phase: N/A
• Start date: April 10, 2023
• Est. completion date: February 2025

Study information

• Verified date: May 2024
• Source: Northwestern University
• Contact: Nora Ibrahim
• Phone: 3126955152
• Email: nora.ibrahim[@]northwestern.edu
• Is FDA regulated: No
• Study type: Interventional

Clinical Trial Summary

This study will investigate the feasibility of cryoanalgesia in patients undergoing cardiac surgery via a median sternotomy. Cryoanalgesia is a technique that uses extremely cold temperatures to temporarily ablate nerves and block pain signals. Cryoanalgesia has been used for decades for pain control after thoracic surgery and has been associated with decreased opioid consumption, decreased pain scores, and shorter hospital stays. The results of this study may lead to a useful alternative for pain control in cardiac surgery patients.

Recruitment information / eligibility

• Status: Recruiting
• Enrollment: 32
• Est. completion date: February 2025
• Est. primary completion date: July 2024
• Accepts healthy volunteers: No
• Gender: All
• Age group: 18 Years and older

Eligibility

Inclusion Criteria:

• Scheduled for elective CABG (coronary artery bypass graft) or single valve surgery via median sternotomy
• Reasonable expectation to be extubated within 24 hours postop

Exclusion Criteria:

• Prior history of surgery to the thorax (sternotomy, thoracotomy, thoracoscopy)
• Hemisternotomy approach
• History of cold urticaria, cryoglobulinemia, Raynaud's disease, or diabetic neuropathy
• Preoperative use of opioids
• History of chronic pain or associated syndromes
• Concurrent Cox maze procedure
• Need for post-bypass mechanical circulatory support (ECMO, IABP) or open chest
• Women who are pregnant or breastfeeding
• Patients who are unable to consent for themselves

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• Pain, Postoperative

Intervention

Device:
• cryoICE® system (AtriCure, Inc) with CryoSphere (CryoS) probe
Per manufacturer instructions, the cryoprobe will be positioned under direct visualization and ablation of the intercostal nerve will be performed 2-4 cm lateral to the internal mammary artery near the mid-clavicular line. The study team plans to perform each cryoablation (-50°C to -70°C) for 120 seconds to sustain an ablation length of 2-3 cm at each intercostal nerve (bilateral T2 - T6). The probe will be removed after defrosting to avoid mechanical damage to the intercostal nerve. Cryoablation will be performed once hemostasis is achieved and prior to sternal wire placement and chest closure by a provider from the cardiac surgery team.

Locations

Country	Name	City	State
United States	Northwestern University	Chicago	Illinois

Sponsors (1)

Lead Sponsor	Collaborator
Northwestern University

Country where clinical trial is conducted

United States, 

References & Publications (18)

Bauman ZM, Loftus J, Raposo-Hadley A, Samuel S, Ernst W, Evans CH, Cemaj S, Kaye AJ. Surgical stabilization of rib fractures combined with intercostal nerve cryoablation proves to be more cost effective by reducing hospital length of stay and narcotics. Injury. 2021 May;52(5):1128-1132. doi: 10.1016/j.injury.2021.02.009. Epub 2021 Feb 6. — View Citation

Bennett MI, Smith BH, Torrance N, Potter J. The S-LANSS score for identifying pain of predominantly neuropathic origin: validation for use in clinical and postal research. J Pain. 2005 Mar;6(3):149-58. doi: 10.1016/j.jpain.2004.11.007. — View Citation

Graves CE, Moyer J, Zobel MJ, Mora R, Smith D, O'Day M, Padilla BE. Intraoperative intercostal nerve cryoablation During the Nuss procedure reduces length of stay and opioid requirement: A randomized clinical trial. J Pediatr Surg. 2019 Nov;54(11):2250-2256. doi: 10.1016/j.jpedsurg.2019.02.057. Epub 2019 Mar 17. — View Citation

Huang AP, Sakata RK. Pain after sternotomy - review. Braz J Anesthesiol. 2016 Jul-Aug;66(4):395-401. doi: 10.1016/j.bjane.2014.09.013. Epub 2016 Apr 23. — View Citation

Kar P, Ramachandran G. Pain relief following sternotomy in conventional cardiac surgery: A review of non neuraxial regional nerve blocks. Ann Card Anaesth. 2020 Apr-Jun;23(2):200-208. doi: 10.4103/aca.ACA_241_18. — View Citation

Katz J, Nelson W, Forest R, Bruce DL. Cryoanalgesia for post-thoracotomy pain. Lancet. 1980 Mar 8;1(8167):512-3. doi: 10.1016/s0140-6736(80)92766-x. — View Citation

Lau WC, Shannon FL, Bolling SF, Romano MA, Sakwa MP, Trescot A, Shi L, Johnson RL, Starnes VA, Grehan JF. Intercostal Cryo Nerve Block in Minimally Invasive Cardiac Surgery: The Prospective Randomized FROST Trial. Pain Ther. 2021 Dec;10(2):1579-1592. doi: 10.1007/s40122-021-00318-0. Epub 2021 Sep 20. — View Citation

Mazzeffi M, Khelemsky Y. Poststernotomy pain: a clinical review. J Cardiothorac Vasc Anesth. 2011 Dec;25(6):1163-78. doi: 10.1053/j.jvca.2011.08.001. Epub 2011 Sep 29. No abstract available. — View Citation

Myles PS. More than just morbidity and mortality - quality of recovery and long-term functional recovery after surgery. Anaesthesia. 2020 Jan;75 Suppl 1:e143-e150. doi: 10.1111/anae.14786. — View Citation

Nachiyunde B, Lam L. The efficacy of different modes of analgesia in postoperative pain management and early mobilization in postoperative cardiac surgical patients: A systematic review. Ann Card Anaesth. 2018 Oct-Dec;21(4):363-370. doi: 10.4103/aca.ACA_186_17. — View Citation

Pala AA, Urcun YS, Cicek OF, Sahin S. Can Continuous Local Anesthetic Infusion After Median Sternotomy Reduce Opioid Use? Cureus. 2020 Sep 29;12(9):e10711. doi: 10.7759/cureus.10711. — View Citation

Park R, Coomber M, Gilron I, Shanthanna H. Cryoanalgesia for postsurgical pain relief in adults: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Ann Med Surg (Lond). 2021 Aug 5;69:102689. doi: 10.1016/j.amsu.2021.102689. eCollection 2021 Sep. — View Citation

Raj N. Regional anesthesia for sternotomy and bypass-Beyond the epidural. Paediatr Anaesth. 2019 May;29(5):519-529. doi: 10.1111/pan.13626. — View Citation

Rijkenberg S, Stilma W, Bosman RJ, van der Meer NJ, van der Voort PHJ. Pain Measurement in Mechanically Ventilated Patients After Cardiac Surgery: Comparison of the Behavioral Pain Scale (BPS) and the Critical-Care Pain Observation Tool (CPOT). J Cardiothorac Vasc Anesth. 2017 Aug;31(4):1227-1234. doi: 10.1053/j.jvca.2017.03.013. Epub 2017 Mar 15. — View Citation

Rothaug J, Zaslansky R, Schwenkglenks M, Komann M, Allvin R, Backstrom R, Brill S, Buchholz I, Engel C, Fletcher D, Fodor L, Funk P, Gerbershagen HJ, Gordon DB, Konrad C, Kopf A, Leykin Y, Pogatzki-Zahn E, Puig M, Rawal N, Taylor RS, Ullrich K, Volk T, Yahiaoui-Doktor M, Meissner W. Patients' perception of postoperative pain management: validation of the International Pain Outcomes (IPO) questionnaire. J Pain. 2013 Nov;14(11):1361-70. doi: 10.1016/j.jpain.2013.05.016. Epub 2013 Sep 7. — View Citation

Salenger R, Holmes SD, Rea A, Yeh J, Knott K, Born R, Boss MJ, Barr LF. Cardiac Enhanced Recovery After Surgery: Early Outcomes in a Community Setting. Ann Thorac Surg. 2022 Jun;113(6):2008-2017. doi: 10.1016/j.athoracsur.2021.06.072. Epub 2021 Aug 2. — View Citation

Trescot AM. Cryoanalgesia in interventional pain management. Pain Physician. 2003 Jul;6(3):345-60. — View Citation

Zubrzycki M, Liebold A, Skrabal C, Reinelt H, Ziegler M, Perdas E, Zubrzycka M. Assessment and pathophysiology of pain in cardiac surgery. J Pain Res. 2018 Aug 24;11:1599-1611. doi: 10.2147/JPR.S162067. eCollection 2018. — View Citation

* Note: There are 18 references in all — Click here to view all references

Outcome

Type	Measure	Description	Time frame	Safety issue
Primary	Average Daily Opioid Consumption in MME	The average daily opioid consumption in morphine milligram equivalents (MME) during the first 48 hours postoperatively serves as the study's primary outcome.	48 hours
Secondary	Quality of Recovery Score	Scale Title: Quality of Recovery Score Scale Values: 0 - 18 Higher score means a better outcome.	48 hours/POD2 (post-operative day 2), 10 days +/- 4 days, 90 days +/- 14 days, & 180 days +/- 30 days
Secondary	Patient Satisfaction with Pain Control Regimen	Scale Title: IPO (International Pain Outcomes) Questionnaire Scale Values: 0 - 320 Higher score means a worse outcome.	24 hours/POD1 (post-operative day 1), 48 hours/POD2, 10 days +/- 4 days, 90 days +/- 14 days, & 180 days +/- 30 days
Secondary	Pain Quality	Scale Title: IPO (International Pain Outcomes) Questionnaire Scale Values: 0 - 320 Higher score means a worse outcome.	24 hours/POD1 (post-operative day 1), 48 hours/POD2, 10 days +/- 4 days, 90 days +/- 14 days, & 180 days +/- 30 days
Secondary	Pain Quality	Scale Title: S-LANSS (Leeds Assessment of Neuropathic Symptoms and Signs) Pain Score Scale Values: 0-24 Higher score means a worse outcome.	24 hours/POD1 (post-operative day 1), 48 hours/POD2, 10 days +/- 4 days, 90 days +/- 14 days, & 180 days +/- 30 days
Secondary	Pain Severity	Scale Title: S-LANSS (Leeds Assessment of Neuropathic Symptoms and Signs) Pain Score Scale Values: 0-24 Higher score means a worse outcome.	24 hours/POD1 (post-operative day 1), 48 hours/POD2, 10 days +/- 4 days, 90 days +/- 14 days, & 180 days +/- 30 days
Secondary	Pain Severity	Scale Title: Numeric Pain Rating Scale Scale Values: 0-10 Higher score means a worse outcome.	24 hours/POD1 (post-operative day 1), 48 hours/POD2, 10 days +/- 4 days, 90 days +/- 14 days, & 180 days +/- 30 days
Secondary	Average Daily Pain Scores	Scale Title: CPOT (Critical-Care Pain Observation Tool) Scale Values: 0-8 Higher score means a worse outcome.	during the first 48 hours postoperatively (starting upon ICU arrival)
Secondary	Average Daily Pain Scores	Scale Title: NRS (Numeric Rating Scale) Scale Values: 0-10 Higher score means a worse outcome.	during the first 48 hours postoperatively (starting upon ICU arrival)