Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 16, 2025
Author Spotlight: Regenerative Peripheral Nerve Interface (RPNI) Surgery in Postamputation Pain Management
Published on: March 15, 2024
Protocol for a randomized controlled trial of endoscopic ultrasound guided celiac plexus neurolysis (EUS-CPN) with vs
Eslam Esmail1,2, Sarto C Paquin1, Anand V Sahai3
1CHUM, Montreal, Canada.
Background:
Pancreatic cancer is a devastating disease with less than 5% 5-year survival. Inoperable patients often present with pain. Randomized controlled trial have shown that endoscopic ultrasound-guided celiac plexus neurolysis (EUS-CPN) improves pain control. It is usually performed by injecting bupivacaine followed by absolute alcohol around the celiac axis.
Study Design:
Single center, randomized, double blind controlled trial of EUS-CPN with and without bupivacaine in patients with inoperable malignancy (pancreatic or other) involving the celiac plexus. The study was approved by research ethics board with approval number of 2022-9969, 21.151 and registered on ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT04951804).
Discussion:
We hypothesize that bupivacaine is superfluous and may actually reduce pain control by diluting the neurolytic effect of alcohol. Bupivacaine is also potentially dangerous in that it may produce serious adverse events such as arrythmias and cardiac arrest if inadvertently injected intravascularly.
Conclusion:
This randomized trial is designed to assess whether bupivacaine is of any value during EUS-CPN.
