Posthectomy in Pediatric Elective Surgery : a Comparison of Perioperative Analgesia Using Echo-guided Penile Block and Pudendal Block With neurostimuLation Technique

Summary

Context : Posthectomy is a surgical procedure that concerns around 30% of the male population, mainly in pediatrics. As this procedure is mainly performed on an outpatient basis, the implementation of an enhanced rehabilitation protocol after surgery in pediatrics helps to reduce the incidence of postoperative pain, notably by providing multimodal analgesia, including locoregional anesthesia. Current recommendations from pediatric locoregional anesthesia societies favor penile block and the use of ultrasound in pediatric anesthesia to reduce anesthetic set-up time and the volume of local anesthetic, but also to increase the duration of sensory block and the success rate. However, several studies have shown the inferiority of penile block in anatomical landmarks compared with pudendal block under neurostimulation. As a result, pediatric anesthesiologists at Caen University Hospital prefer to use pudendal blocks under neurostimulation for posthectomy surgery. To date, no study has compared penile block under ultrasound with pudendal block under neurostimulation for postoperative analgesia after posthectomy surgery. On the other hand, a study of postoperative analgesia in hypospadias surgery showed a clear superiority of penile block under ultrasound over pudendal block in terms of both immediate postoperative pain and duration of postoperative analgesia. It therefore seems pertinent to compare these two techniques in posthectomy surgery.

Objective: We propose a prospective, open-label, non-inferiority study with the primary objective of comparing the efficacy of echo-guided penile block versus pudendal block in neurostimulation for posthectomy surgery.

Methods: This randomized, single-center study will include 240 patients divided into two groups. The experimental group will receive optimized medical and surgical management, with a penile block under ultrasound, while the control group will receive a pudendal block under neurostimulation. The planned duration of the study is 3 years.

Hypothesis tested: We hypothesize that ultrasound-guided penile block is non-inferior to neurostimulated pudendal block for postoperative analgesia in scheduled posthectomy surgery. The secondary objectives are to evaluate the time taken to perform the block, the volume of local anesthetic used, the need for sufentanil reinjection intraoperatively, the quantitative evaluation of analgesia using the EVENDOL score, the consumption of nalbuphine in the post anesthesia care unit, the occurrence of postoperative vomiting, and the length of stay in the post anesthesia care unit. The rate of complications related to the performance of locoregional anesthesia is also observed.

Conditions

• Postoperative Care
• Analgesia Assessment
• Posthectomy
• Postoperative Analgesia

Interventions

PROCEDURE

Ultrasound guided penile block

The penile block is performed supine. After skin disinfection, the Buck's fascia is sonographically located, and the local anesthetic is injected close to the dorsal nerve of the penis in the plane after a negative aspiration test (16). The recommended dose is 0.1 ml/kg per side of ropivacaine 2 mg/ml (8). Injection is performed bilaterally. A subcutaneous injection of 1ml ropivacaine 2mg/ml (i.e. 2mg) is made at the base of the penis to ensure blockage of the perineal fibers.

PROCEDURE

Neurostimulation guided pudendal block

The pudendal block is performed in the supine position, with the legs flexed. After skin disinfection and palpation of the ischial tuberosity, the neurostimulator needle, set at 0.5 mA, is inserted 1 cm medial to the tuberosity. Contraction of the anal sphincter enables the proximity of the pudendal nerve, originating from the S2, S3 and S4 roots, to be identified. Once contraction has been obtained, local anaesthetic is injected using ropivacaine 2 mg/ml at a dose of 0.2 ml/kg per side, in the absence of blood reflux.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• University Hospital, Caen

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Jean Luc Hanouz, MD, PhD · University Hospital, Caen

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

SUPPORTIVE_CARE

Masking

NONE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

12 Weeks

Max Age

18 Years

Sex

MALE

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2025-09-30

Primary Completion

2028-12-31

Completion

2028-12-31

Countries

• France

Study Locations