Epidural Analgesia Versus Opioid-sparing Analgesia for Open Ventral Hernia Repair With Transversus Abdominis Release
Epidural Analgesia verSus Opioid-sparing analgEsia Protocol for Pain Control Following Open Ventral Hernia Repair With Transversus Abdominis Release: A Randomized Controlled Trial
- Ventral Hernia
- Ventral Hernia Repair
- Postoperative Pain
At a glance
- Phase
- Phase 4
- Study type
- Interventional
- Sponsor
- Northwestern University
- Enrolment target
- 40
- Started
- 18 September 2026
- Main results due
- September 2027
- Study sites
- 1
- Registry updated
- 24 September 2026
Can you take part?
- Ages 18 years to 80 years.
- Open to any sex.
- You need the condition being studied — healthy volunteers are not accepted.
These are the headline rules only. Every study has a longer list, and whether you are eligible is decided by the research team at the site — never by this page.
Read the full eligibility criteria
Inclusion Criteria: * Male or female patients ≥18 years old * Symptomatic incisional ventral or parastomal hernias * Planned transversus abdominis release * Ability to provide informed consent Exclusion Criteria: * Contraindications to epidural placement * Chronic pre-operative opioid use, defined as daily opioid use for 30-days prior to surgery * Allergy or intolerance to study medications * Age greater than 80 years * Impaired renal function - defined as creatinine clearance or estimated GFR of \<60ml/min * Planned ICU admissions with post-operative intubation * Urgent or emergent presentations * Adults unable to consent * Pregnant patients
What this study is about
In the sponsor’s own words, from the registry.
This study is comparing two ways to manage pain after a major hernia repair surgery called "transversus abdominis release." One method uses an epidural, a small tube placed in the back that delivers pain medicine directly around the spine. The other method avoids the epidural and instead uses a combination of non-opioid pain medicines, along with an injection of numbing medicine into the abdominal wall during surgery. Patients who still have pain that is hard to control with either method will be given rescue pain medicine through an intravenous (IV) pump.
Researchers want to learn which method controls pain better and results in patients using fewer opioid pain medicines after surgery. Participants will be randomly assigned (like a coin flip) to one of the two pain control methods. Pain levels and medication use will be tracked during the hospital stay, and participants will be contacted 30 days after surgery to check on recovery and any side effects.
Study sites(1)
Northwestern Memorial Hospital
Chicago, Illinois, United States
Recruiting
Showing 1 of 1 sites. 1 of the 1 site on this study is recruiting right now — a site can stop enrolling while the study as a whole is still open.
Source: ClinicalTrials.gov record NCT07840183. Trialion does not run this study, is not paid to refer anyone to it, and cannot enrol you. Eligibility is always decided by the research team at the site.
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