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External Oblique Intercostal Plane Block for Postoperative Analgesia After Major Upper Abdominal Surgery

NCT07331441 · Status: NOT_YET_RECRUITING · Phase: NA · Type: INTERVENTIONAL · Enrollment: 78

Last updated 2026-01-09

No results posted yet for this study

Summary

Postoperative pain after laparoscopic major upper abdominal surgery (e.g., gastric, hepatic, gallbladder, pancreatic surgery) is often severe, and inadequate analgesia may lead to increased opioid use, opioid dependence, and poor functional recovery. Current analgesic techniques such as neuraxial block have safety concerns (e.g., hypotension, neurological injury), while transversus abdominis plane (TAP) block is ineffective for blocking the lateral cutaneous branches of intercostal nerves in the upper abdomen. The External Oblique Intercostal Plane Block (EOIB) is a novel regional block technique that has shown promise in reducing postoperative opioids and pain in small-scale studies, but evidence for its use in major upper abdominal surgery is limited. This randomized controlled trial (RCT) aims to evaluate the analgesic efficacy and safety of bilateral EOIB combined with standard multimodal analgesia versus standard multimodal analgesia alone in patients undergoing elective laparoscopic major upper abdominal surgery. The primary outcome is the total postoperative opioid consumption (measured as Morphine Milligram Equivalents, MME) within 24 hours. Secondary and additional outcomes include pain scores (Verbal Rating Scale, VRS), recovery quality (QoR-15 scale), incidence of adverse events, and hospital stay.

Conditions

  • Abdominal Surgery
  • Postoperative Pain

Interventions

PROCEDURE

External Oblique Intercostal Plane Block

Ultrasound-guided bilateral external oblique intercostal plane block (EOIB) performed after induction of general anesthesia and before surgical incision. Using an in-plane technique at the 6th rib level, 15 mL per side of local anesthetic solution (ropivacaine 0.75% diluted with normal saline) is injected between the external oblique muscle and the intercostal muscle. Standard multimodal analgesia is also provided to all participants.

OTHER

Standard multimodal analgesia

Standard multimodal analgesia per institutional ERAS practice, including intravenous patient-controlled analgesia (IV PCA) with opioids and adjunct non-opioid analgesics (e.g., NSAIDs and/or acetaminophen) with antiemetic prophylaxis as needed. No regional block is administered.

Sponsors & Collaborators

  • Jun Zhang

    lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

  • Jun Zhang, PhD · Fudan University

Study Design

Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
SINGLE
Model
PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age
18 Years
Max Age
85 Years
Sex
ALL
Healthy Volunteers
No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start
2026-01-15
Primary Completion
2026-04-15
Completion
2026-04-20

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Read the full study record

This page highlights key information. For complete eligibility criteria, study locations, investigator contacts, and the full protocol, visit the original record on ClinicalTrials.gov.

View NCT07331441 on ClinicalTrials.gov