The Efficacy and Safety of Liposomal Bupivacaine in Relieving Postoperative Pain After Video-assisted Thoracoscopic Surgery
The Efficacy and Safety of Liposomal Bupivacaine Plus Bupivacaine Local Incisional Infiltration for Postoperative Pain in Patients Undergoing Video-assisted Thoracoscopic Surgery:A Multi-Center Randomized Controlled Trial
Beijing Tiantan Hospital
100 participants
Mar 2, 2026
INTERVENTIONAL
Conditions
Summary
Video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) is less invasive compared to traditional thoracotomy. It is reported that the incidence of acute pain following VATS exceeds 80%. Inadequate postoperative analgesia may trigger a series of adverse physiological stress responses, increase the occurrence of postoperative complications, and affect the rehabilitation process.If acute pain is not managed promptly and sufficiently, nearly one-quarter of patients may develop chronic pain, impacting normal life and sleep quality after discharge. Local infiltration anesthesia at the incision site is one of the simplest, safest, and most effective methods for preventing postoperative incision pain. Liposomal bupivacaine(LB) is a novel, long-acting, sustained-release amide-type local anesthetic, providing localized analgesic effects for up to 72 hours. Some researchers have reported the analgesic effects of LB VS traditional local anesthetics infiltration, but the current research results are highly heterogeneous. More prospective studies are needed to evaluate whether LB infiltration is superior to the traditional local anesthetics for the management of postoperative pain. The investigators designed this study to compare the analgesic effect of using LB plus bupivacaine for local infiltration with bupivacaine along for patients after VATS.
Eligibility
Inclusion Criteria5
- Patients scheduled for elective video-assisted thoracoscopic lobectomy or wedge resection under general anesthesia;
- Ages 18 to 64 years old；
- American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) physical status of I-III；
- Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) score of 15；
- Patients must be able to understand the nature and potential personal consequences of the clinical trial, signing of the informed consent form.
Exclusion Criteria14
- History of chronic pain syndrome of any cause.
- Patients with heart conduction block (sinus block or atrioventricular block).
- Patients with unstable coronary artery disease.
- Patients with gastric ulcer or gastric bleeding.
- Patients with diabetes and are being treated with insulin.
- Subjects with coagulation dysfunction (prothrombin time or activated partial thromboplastin time is higher than the normal threshold) or patients who are taking oral anticoagulants for other medical reasons and have not stopped it before surgery, such as warfarin or new anticoagulants rivaroxaban or dabigatran.
- Patients with abnormal liver function: alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and/or aspartate aminotransferase (AST) \> 2× the upper limit of normal (ULN) or total bilirubin (TBIL) ≥ 1.5×ULN.
- Patients with renal impairment (serum creatinine \> 176 µmol/L) or receiving dialysis treatment within 28 days before surgery.
- Patients with a history of diagnosed mental illness or currently taking psychotropic medication.
- Excessive alcohol or drug abuse, chronic opioid use (more than 2 weeks or 3 days per week for more than 1 month), use of drugs with confirmed or suspected sedative or analgesic effects, or use of any painkiller within 24 h before surgery.
- Pregnancy or breastfeeding.
- Extreme body mass index (BMI) (\< 15 or \> 35).
- Participation in another interventional trial that interferes with the intervention or outcome of this trial.
- Patients with a history of allergy to local anaesthetics or one of the study drugs.
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Interventions
The 40 mL 0.25% Bupivacaine hydrochloride (100 mg, normal saline dilution) for the Bupivacaine hydrochloride group.Local infiltration will be performed by the thoracic surgeon before closure. A total of 30-40 mL of fluid will be injected at the incision.The PCA solution is prepared by diluting 100 μg of sufentanil and 16 mg of ondansetron with normal saline to a total volume of 100 mL. Postoperatively, the patient may press the demand button for analgesia. Each activation delivers a 2 mL bolus, with a lockout interval of 10 minutes.If analgesia remains inadequate after four consecutive demands, one Oxycodone and Acetaminophen Tablets (containing 5 mg oxycodone hydrochloride and 325 mg acetaminophen) is administered orally, with a minimum interval of 6 hours between repeated administrations. If pain persists, intravenous morphine 5 mg may be administered at intervals no shorter than 4 hours.
The 20 mL (266 mg) of liposomal bupivacaine will be mixed with a volume of 20 mL 0.25% Bupivacaine hydrochloride (50 mg, normal saline dilution) for the Liposomal Bupivacaine plus Bupivacaine hydrochloride group.Local infiltration will be performed by the thoracic surgeon before closure.A total of 30-40 mL of fluid will be injected at the incision.The PCA solution is prepared by diluting 100 μg of sufentanil and 16 mg of ondansetron with normal saline to a total volume of 100 mL. Postoperatively, the patient may press the demand button for analgesia. Each activation delivers a 2 mL bolus, with a lockout interval of 10 minutes.If analgesia remains inadequate after four consecutive demands, one Oxycodone and Acetaminophen Tablets (containing 5 mg oxycodone hydrochloride and 325 mg acetaminophen) is administered orally, with a minimum interval of 6 hours between repeated administrations. If pain persists, intravenous morphine 5 mg may be administered at intervals no shorter than 4 hours.
Locations(1)
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NCT07432711