Cardiothoracic & vascular anesthesia
Analgesic efficacy of continuous superficial parasternal intercostal plane blockade in patients undergoing cardiac surgery with median sternotomy: a randomized controlled trial
Authors' conclusion
Continuous SPIP blockade did not demonstrate superiority over single-injection SPIP blockade in reducing acute sternal pain on coughing at 24 hours after cardiac surgery.
Study context
- Population
- English-speaking adults undergoing scheduled cardiac surgery with full median sternotomy, tertiary care centre, Vancouver, Canadarandomized
- Participants
- 80 adults
- Comparison
- Continuous vs single-injection superficial parasternal intercostal plane (SPIP) blockade
- Interventionn = 40
- Controln = 40reference
- Primary endpoint
- Numeric rating scale (NRS) sternal pain score on standardized coughing
- Follow-up
- 24 hours
Methodological detailsparallel-arm, superiority, single-centre, blinded, stratified by sex
- Parallel-arm
- Superiority
- Single-centre
- Blinded
- Stratified by sex
Primary result
As reported in the abstract
Intervention
4.0
mean · SD 2.2
Control
3.9
mean · SD 2.2
Secondary outcomes
Sternal pain within 48 h, opioid use, quality of recovery, PONV, chronic sternal pain
- No differences between the groups
Safety
- Suspected LAST requiring unblinding — Intervention
- 1 events
Suspected LAST requiring unblinding
- No other major complications
Parts of this Brief are withheld: the automatic checks could not confirm them against the abstract.
Original publication
Analgesic efficacy of continuous superficial parasternal intercostal plane blockade in patients undergoing cardiac surgery with median sternotomy: a randomized controlled trial. Reg Anesth Pain Med. Published 5 November 2025. doi:10.
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