NCT07504705

Comparison of Intertransverse Process and Erector Spinae Plane Blocks in Acute Postoperative Analgesia Management for Laparoscopic Cholecystectomy Patients

Not yet recruiting NA Last updated 13 April 2026

What this trial tests

NA trial testing Intertransverse Process Block in Acut Postoperative Pain in 110 participants. Not yet recruiting.

Timeline

1 May 2026

Primary endpoint
1 May 2027

25 May 2027

Quick facts

Lead sponsor	Konya City Hospital
Phase	NA
Status	Not yet recruiting
Study type	INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation	randomized
Design	parallel
Masking	triple
Primary purpose	treatment
Enrollment	110
Start date	1 May 2026
Primary completion	1 May 2027
Estimated completion	25 May 2027
Sites	1 location across Turkey (Türkiye)

Drugs / interventions tested

• Intertransverse Process Block
• Erector Spinae Plane Block — full drug profile →

Conditions studied

• Acut Postoperative Pain — all drugs for Acut Postoperative Pain →
• Erector Spinae Plane Block — all drugs for Erector Spinae Plane Block →
• Intertransverse Process Block — all drugs for Intertransverse Process Block →

Sponsor

Konya City Hospital

Who can join

18 and older, any sex, with Acut Postoperative Pain or Erector Spinae Plane Block. Patients with the condition only — healthy volunteers not accepted.

Sponsor's own description

Laparoscopic cholecystectomy is considered the gold standard for the surgical treatment of benign gallbladder diseases; however, despite its minimally invasive nature, a significant proportion of patients experience substantial early postoperative pain, which impacts patient comfort and the duration of hospital stay. The current PROSPECT review and previous studies emphasize that this pain is multifactorial-comprising somatic, visceral, and phrenic nerve-mediated shoulder-tip components-and therefore advocate for an opioid-sparing multimodal analgesic approach. Within this framework, first-line recommendations include paracetamol, NSAIDs/COX-2 inhibitors, dexamethasone, and local anesthetic infiltration of the surgical site and/or intraperitoneal cavity, alongside appropriate regional blocks; opioids should be reserved solely for rescue analgesia.

Ultrasound-guided regional anesthesia blocks are increasingly utilized for acute visceral pain conditions, such as renal colic. The Erector Spinae Plane Block (ESPB) is an interfacial block performed in the thoracic paraspinal region, and it is hypothesized that its extensive spread may influence somatic and, to some extent, visceral pain pathways. Nevertheless, anatomical and clinical studies report inconsistent effects of ESPB on visceral pain, noting that local anesthetics may not consistently reach the paravertebral space, thereby leading to variable block efficacy.

Consequently, the Intertransverse Process Block (ITPB), which targets a plane anatomically closer to the paravertebral space, has been described in recent years as an alternative technique. ITPB is performed by injecting local anesthetic into the interfacial space adjacent to the retro-superior costotransverse ligament; it is reported to carry a low risk of complications as it does not require direct orientation toward the pleura or neuraxial structures. Clinical trials indicate that ITPB provides analgesic efficacy comparable to paravertebral blocks in both thoracic and abdominal surgeries and reduces opioid consumption. Furthermore, anatomical studies suggest that the probability of local anesthetic spread into the paravertebral space is higher with ITPB than with ESPB.

However, a randomized controlled trial comparing ESPB and ITPB in patients undergoing laparoscopic cholecystectomy is currently lacking in the literature. Therefore, the present study was designed to address this gap.

Publications & conference data

No peer-reviewed publications indexed yet for this trial.