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Bupivacaine vs Placebo for Unilateral Mastectomy Surgical Site Post-operative Pain Control

Double Blind, Randomized, Placebo Controlled Trial of Locally Instilled Bupivacaine in the Surgical Bed After Unilateral Mastectomy Without Reconstruction

Status
Active, not recruiting
Phases
Phase 3
Study type
Interventional
Source
ClinicalTrials.gov
Registry ID
NCT03351348
Enrollment
165
Registered
2017-11-22
Start date
2017-11-16
Completion date
2027-11-01
Last updated
2026-08-04

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

Breast Cancer

Keywords

Bupivacaine, Mastectomy, Sentinel lymph node biopsy SLNB, 17-576

Brief summary

The purpose of this study is to compare using FDA-approved bupivacaine (a numbing medicine), along with the usual medications for post-operative pain control to using the usual medications for postoperative pain control alone. The addition of bupivacaine to the surgical wound site with the usual pain medications could better manage your pain immediately after surgery and reduce the amount of opioid medications taken after surgery. This study will allow the researchers to know whether this different approach is better, the same, or worse than the usual approach.

Interventions

DRUGBupivacaine

The intervention in this study is the insertion of 20cc of 0.5% bupivacaine via a drain into the mastectomy wound for 2 hours ± 30 minutes postoperatively in patients undergoing unilateral mastectomy without breast reconstruction +/- SLNB, +/- axillary dissection.

BEHAVIORALpatient-reported pain scores

Will be recorded by the nurse in the PACU as per usual practice. Patients will be given a follow-up Brief Pain Inventory (short form) 6 months and 1 year after surgery to assess their level of chronic pain. Patients may be discharged when table either on the day of surgery or post-operative day 1 (on pill diary for same-day discharge patients).

OTHERsaline

The intervention in this study is the insertion of 20cc of saline via a drain into the mastectomy wound for 2 ± 30 minutes hours postoperatively in patients undergoing unilateral mastectomy without breast reconstruction +/- SLNB, +/- axillary dissection.

Sponsors

Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
Lead SponsorOTHER

Study design

Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
DOUBLE (Subject, Investigator)

Masking description

Treatment assignments can be viewed only by the hospital pharmacists who are dispensing the study drugs.

Intervention model description

A prospective, double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial

Eligibility

Sex/Gender
FEMALE
Age
18 Years to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
No

Inclusion criteria

* Patients ≥ 18 years of age * Patients undergoing unilateral mastectomy with or without SLNB or axillary dissection * Patients scheduled for surgery at the JRSC or MSK Monmouth * Previously enrolled patients \> 6 months from contralateral mastectomy

Exclusion criteria

* Patients who are non-English speaking * Patients having any immediate breast reconstructive procedure * Patients are having bilateral mastectomy * Patients who report a baseline pain score \> 3, unrelated to a breast procedure * Patients who take long acting opioid medication use * Patients will be excluded if they are having their mastectomy performed with tumescence * Patients weighing \< 40kg as 20cc of bupivacaine 0.5% is greater than the maximum allowed dose * Patients within 6 months of previous enrollment for surgery for contralateral mastectomy

Design outcomes

Primary

MeasureTime frameDescription
number of patients that have moderate to severe painup to 24 hoursValidated measures consisting of the Comparative Pain Scale and Simplified Postoperative Nausea and Vomiting (PONV) impact scale are currently administered to postoperative patients at JRSC. The Comparative pain scale ranges from 0-10, with 0 representing no pain and 10 representing the most severe pain. 0 = no pain 1-3 = minor pain 4-6 = moderate pain 7-10 = severe pain

Countries

United States

Contacts

PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATORLaurie Kirstein, MD

Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center

Outcome results

None listed

Source: ClinicalTrials.gov · Data processed: Aug 5, 2026