Thoracic Epidural Block for Severe Acute Pancreatitis
Trial statusNot yet recruiting
Trial phaseNot applicable
Trial typeInterventional
Biological sexAll
Age18-75
SponsorFirst People's Hospital of Chenzhou
About this trial
Severe acute pancreatitis is a serious illness that can cause severe abdominal pain, inflammation, increased abdominal pressure, feeding intolerance, and early problems with breathing, circulation, and kidney function. Patients with severe acute pancreatitis often need treatment in the intensive care unit. Pain control is an important part of treatment, but conventional pain medicines, especially opioids, may cause side effects such as respiratory depression, reduced bowel movement, nausea, vomiting, delirium, and delayed enteral nutrition.
Thoracic epidural block is a regional pain-control technique. It may relieve abdominal pain by blocking pain signals and sympathetic nerve activity from the chest and upper abdominal region. This treatment may also reduce the need for systemic opioid medicines, improve bowel function, improve tolerance to enteral nutrition, and reduce the need for early organ support in some patients.
This study is a single-center, prospective, randomized, open-label, parallel-group trial. Adult patients with severe acute pancreatitis will be randomly assigned to either a thoracic epidural block group or a conventional analgesia group. Patients in the thoracic epidural block group will receive continuous thoracic epidural infusion of ropivacaine alone, without epidural opioids such as sufentanil, fentanyl, or morphine. Intravenous pain medicines will be used only before epidural block initiation, as rescue analgesia when epidural pain control is inadequate, or after epidural block is paused, fails, or is discontinued. Patients in the conventional analgesia group will receive standard pain treatment according to clinical practice.
The main goal of this study is to determine whether thoracic epidural block can increase the number of days patients are alive and free from ICU-level organ support during the first 14 days after randomization. ICU-level organ support includes invasive mechanical ventilation, noninvasive ventilation, vasoactive or inotropic drug infusion, and renal replacement therapy. The study will also evaluate pain scores, opioid consumption, enteral nutrition tolerance, intra-abdominal pressure, organ function scores, complications, length of ICU and hospital stay, hospital cost, 28-day mortality, and adverse events related to thoracic epidural block.
Eligibility criteria
This trial does not accept healthy volunteersQualifiers
Age 18 to 75 years.
Diagnosis of acute pancreatitis, defined by at least two of the following three criteria: typical acute upper abdominal pain; serum amylase and/or lipase greater than three times the upper limit of normal; imaging findings consistent with acute pancreatitis on contrast-enhanced CT, MRI, or ultrasound.
Admission or transfer to the study hospital within 72 hours after symptom onset.
Severe acute pancreatitis, or moderately severe acute pancreatitis with early respiratory, cardiovascular, or renal organ dysfunction.
Disqualifiers
Acute exacerbation of chronic pancreatitis.
Acute pancreatitis associated with pancreatic tumor.
Pregnancy or lactation.
Prior percutaneous abdominal drainage, retroperitoneal drainage, endoscopic drainage, necrosectomy, or surgery before randomization that may substantially affect outcome assessment.
Trial design
Design model
Parallel
Treatments tested in this trial
Thoracic Epidural Block With Ropivacaine
Procedure/SurgeryThoracic epidural block will be performed by trained anesthesiologists. Before catheterization, the clinical team will assess hemodynamic status, coagulation function, antithrombotic medication use, infection risk, respiratory status, and baseline neurological status. The puncture level will be selected according to the participant's condition and operator assessment, generally within the T7-T11 range to cover upper abdominal pain. After thoracic epidural catheter placement, a test dose of 1%-1.5% lidocaine 3 mL will be administered to exclude intrathecal or intravascular catheter placement. If the test dose is negative, a loading dose of ropivacaine may be administered, followed by continuous thoracic epidural infusion of ropivacaine alone. No epidural opioid, including sufentanil, fentanyl, or morphine, will be added to the epidural infusion in this study. A recommended regimen is 0.1%-0.2% ropivacaine, initiated at approximately 5 mL/hour and adjusted according to pain score, hemo
conventional analgesia
Other interventionConventional analgesia will be administered according to institutional practice and the participant's clinical condition. The analgesic target is an NRS score of 3 or less in conscious and communicative participants, or a CPOT score of 2 or less in non-communicative critically ill participants. Analgesic drugs, doses, routes, duration of administration, rescue analgesia, sedative use, and opioid consumption will be recorded.
Treatment groups
120 Participants
are divided into 2 treatment groupsGroup A: Thoracic Epidural Block GroupExperimental treatment 1 intervention
Group B: Conventional Analgesia GroupActive comparator 1 intervention
Trial outcomes
Primary outcomes
1
Alive Organ Support-Free Days to Day 14
Alive organ support-free days to day 14 is defined as the number of days from randomization to day 14 during which the participant is alive and free of ICU-level organ support. ICU-level organ support includes invasive mechanical ventilation, noninvasive ventilation, continuous infusion of vasoactive or inotropic drugs, and renal replacement therapy. A day will be counted as organ support-free only if the participant is alive and does not receive any of these organ support treatments on that day. Participants who die within 14 days after randomization will be assigned 0 alive organ support-free days.
Time frame
From randomization to day 14Secondary outcomes
1
Organ Failure-Free Days to Day 14
Number of days from randomization to day 14 during which the participant is alive and free of respiratory, cardiovascular, and renal organ failure. Organ failure is defined as a SOFA subscore of 2 or higher in any of the following systems: respiratory, cardiovascular, or renal. Participants who die within 14 days will be assigned 0 organ failure-free days.
Time frame
From randomization to day 142
Alive Organ Support-Free Days to Day 28
Number of days from randomization to day 28 during which the participant is alive and free of ICU-level organ support, including invasive mechanical ventilation, noninvasive ventilation, vasoactive or inotropic drug infusion, and renal replacement therapy. Participants who die within 28 days will be assigned 0 days.
Time frame
From randomization to day 283
Ventilator-Free Days to Day 28
Number of days from randomization to day 28 during which the participant is alive and free of invasive mechanical ventilation. Participants who die within 28 days will be assigned 0 ventilator-free days.
Time frame
From randomization to day 284
Renal Replacement Therapy-Free Days to Day 28
Number of days from randomization to day 28 during which the participant is alive and free of renal replacement therapy. Renal replacement therapy includes continuous renal replacement therapy and intermittent hemodialysis for acute kidney injury. Participants who die within 28 days will be assigned 0 days.
Time frame
From randomization to day 28Locations
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Source ClinicalTrials.gov
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