A Phase 4 interventional study of Ropivacaine and Normal saline in Bariatric Surgery Candidate, sponsored by Ottawa Hospital Research Institute. Completed at 1 site in Canada. Open to participants aged 18 Years and older. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-08-31.
Sponsored by Ottawa Hospital Research Institute · Phase 4, Interventional, and Treatment
Randomized, Double-Blinded, Placebo-Controlled Trial of Laparoscopic Transverse Abdominis Plane (Lap TAP) and Rectus Sheath Block in elective Gastric Bypass Surgery aiming to evaluate the benefit of a laparoscopically -guided, surgical transversus abdominis plane (TAP) block and rectus sheath block in reducing post-operative opioid consumption and improving outcomes in patients undergoing laparoscopic gastric bypass surgery. The results of this study will provide further evidence on the optimal means to obtain analgesia in patients undergoing gastric bypass surgery
Management of post-operative pain remains a major challenge and an area of continued research. Effective pain control, apart from providing general patient comfort, is critical for a variety of clinical reasons. It leads to early ambulation and improved respiratory function, which significantly reduces the risk of post-operative complications such as pulmonary embolus or pneumonia, as well as early discharge.
Post-operative pain management was typically opioid-based; however, post-operative opioid use may be associated with increased risk of respiratory depression and sedation. It is therefore desirable to implement opioid sparing multimodal analgesia to achieve satisfactory pain control while reducing post-operative opioid requirements and their side-effects.
Rational pain management is a particularly pertinent issue in the patients with morbid obesity (MO). The pathophysiology of obesity, the high prevalence of obstructive sleep apnea, and high susceptibility to respiratory depression amongst patients with MO make safe analgesic (pain) management especially difficult. These individuals are at high risk of post-operative adverse respiratory events, nosocomial infections, cardiovascular complications, and pulmonary emboli (the second leading cause of death in the bariatric surgery population).
Given the increasing number of patients with MO presenting for elective weight loss surgery, it is important to understand and optimize the analgesic requirements of this patient population. However, there are limited evidence-based recommendations and no ideal analgesic regimen exists for patients with MO. Current recommendations include use of step-wise severity-based opioid- sparing multimodal analgesia. It is possible that including local anesthetic blocks will further reduce pain, opioid analgesic consumption and side-effects from pain management (sedation, confusion, nausea \& vomiting etc.) at-risk patient population.
Ottawa Hospital Research Institute is the lead sponsor of 547 studies on the registry; 99 are open to participants now.
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Go through the criteria one by one — yes, no or not sure — and take the list to your doctor or the study team. Kept in this browser only.
Exclusion Criteria:
Underlined terms in the criteria open these too. Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Before you join, the study team explains what taking part involves — its purpose, what happens, the risks and possible benefits — and answers your questions, so you can decide freely. Consent is usually recorded on a form (the informed consent form, ICF) signed by you or, where the law allows, by someone legally authorised to decide for you.
You can keep asking questions during the study, you are told of new information that matters, and you can choose to leave at any time.
How quickly the kidneys clear creatinine, a waste product, from the blood. A study may estimate it from a blood test with age, weight and sex (often by the Cockcroft–Gault formula), or measure it using blood and urine collected over a set time. Given in mL/min; higher is better.
A score of how well the liver works in people with liver disease such as cirrhosis: class A is mild, B moderate and C severe.
A biopsy takes a small piece of tissue to examine. “Archival tissue” is a sample already taken, for example at diagnosis, and kept by the hospital.
Whether a stored sample will do depends on when it was taken, how much there is and what the study needs. Ask whether the study accepts your stored sample or needs a new biopsy.
Informed consent
Before you join, the study team explains what taking part involves — its purpose, what happens, the risks and possible benefits — and answers your questions, so you can decide freely. Consent is usually recorded on a form (the informed consent form, ICF) signed by you or, where the law allows, by someone legally authorised to decide for you.
You can keep asking questions during the study, you are told of new information that matters, and you can choose to leave at any time.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Creatinine clearance (CrCl)
How quickly the kidneys clear creatinine, a waste product, from the blood. A study may estimate it from a blood test with age, weight and sex (often by the Cockcroft–Gault formula), or measure it using blood and urine collected over a set time. Given in mL/min; higher is better.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Child-Pugh class
A score of how well the liver works in people with liver disease such as cirrhosis: class A is mild, B moderate and C severe.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Biopsy and archival tissue
A biopsy takes a small piece of tissue to examine. “Archival tissue” is a sample already taken, for example at diagnosis, and kept by the hospital.
Whether a stored sample will do depends on when it was taken, how much there is and what the study needs. Ask whether the study accepts your stored sample or needs a new biopsy.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
TAP and Rectus Sheath Block of 60 mL Normal Saline divided into 4 injections administered as in Experimental Arm.
Drug: Normal saline
The block will be administered in the anterior abdominal wall. For the TAP block, the standard technique will be followed- at the anterior axillary line midway between the subcostal margin and iliac crest. For the rectus sheath block, a bilateral sub-xiphoid approach will be used. There will be 4 injection sites in total and the size of the needle will be standardized to an 18g spinal needle 10cms. Using laparoscopic visualization, the transversus abdominis muscles were identified lateral to the semilunar line. Ropivacaine to be infiltrated will be divided into 4 equal amounts. The procedure is then repeated 2 times in the transversus abdominis plane (20mL each) and 2 times as a Rectus Sheath Block (10mL each) with a total amount of 60 mL.
Drug: Ropivacaine
TAP and Rectus Sheath Block Injections of Ropivacaine
Also known as: NAROPIN®, 84057-95-4
TAP and Rectus Sheath Block Injections of Normal Saline
Also known as: Sodium Chloride, 7647-14-5
Cumulative postoperative narcotic use
Cumulative postoperative narcotic use administered within 24 hours post-operatively
Time frame: Hour 0-24 post operatively, baseline and Follow-up use of narcotics will be recorded for population description
Peak Expiratory flow score
measured by the spirometry 60 - 850 liters per minute. Peak expiratory force has not been studied extensively in obese patients. Currently, there is no recommendation on what constitutes a clinically significant change. Recovery to baseline will be sought.
Time frame: Surgery consent visit, morning of surgery, Hour 0-24 post operatively, Follow-up (7-10 days post op)
Pain score
measured by the 0-10 Numeric pain rating score
Time frame: Surgery consent visit, morning of surgery, Hour 0-24 post operatively, Follow-up (7-10 days post op)
6-minute walk distance (6MWD)
the distance (m) an individual is able to walk along a flat 30 m walkway over a six-minute period, with breaks as required
Time frame: Surgery consent visit, morning of surgery, Hour 0-24 post operatively, Follow-up (7-10 days post op)
Quality of Life Questionnaire (QOR-40) (Explanatory Outcome)
Assessment of different aspects of quality of life using validated questionnaire
Time frame: Surgery consent visit, morning of surgery, Hour 0-24 post operatively, Follow-up (7-10 days post op)
PDFs hosted by the registry, ClinicalTrials.gov.
Plan to share: Yes — Available upon request and all data requests have to be approved by our institution research ethics board
Supporting information: Study protocol, Statistical analysis plan, Informed consent form
Time frame: Within 6 months of completion
Access criteria: Requests are reviewed by the institutional research ethics board.
Ran from Nov 2018 to primary completion in Feb 2020, 15 months.
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This study is completed, as verified in Aug 2026. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.
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Studies of the drug tested here: Ropivacaine
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