An interventional study of Rectus Intercostal Plane Block and Control (No Block) in Liver Transplantation, Living Donor and Postoperative Pain, sponsored by Istinye University. Completed at 1 site in Turkey (Türkiye). Open to participants aged 18 Years to 75 Years. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-06-25.
Sponsored by Istinye University · Not applicable, Interventional, and Other
Postoperative pain control plays a crucial role in enhancing recovery and improving early mobilization in living liver donors. The rectus-intercostal fascial plane (RIFP) block is a novel ultrasound-guided regional anesthesia technique that provides anterior abdominal wall analgesia by targeting the intercostal nerves between the rectus abdominis and intercostal muscle fascia.
This prospective, randomized controlled clinical study aims to evaluate the postoperative analgesic efficacy and opioid-sparing effects of the RIFP block compared with standard intravenous analgesia in living liver donors undergoing donor hepatectomy.
Participants will be randomly assigned to two groups:
Group 1 (RIFP Block): Patients receiving an ultrasound-guided rectus-intercostal fascial plane block using 20 mL of 0.25% bupivacaine at the end of surgery, in addition to standard IV PCA (morphine).
Group 2 (Control): Patients receiving only standard IV PCA (morphine) without regional block.
This prospective randomized controlled study will include living liver donors undergoing donor hepatectomy. Participants will be divided into two groups: the Rectus-Intercostal Fascial Plane (RIFP) Block Group and the Control Group.
In the RIFP group, patients will receive an ultrasound-guided RIFP block at the end of surgery and postoperative analgesia with intravenous morphine PCA. The control group will receive only intravenous morphine PCA without any regional block.
The primary outcome is total morphine consumption during the first 24 postoperative hours.
Secondary outcomes include pain scores at 1, 6, 12, and 24 hours, time to first rescue analgesia, amount of rescue analgesic used, and incidence of postoperative nausea and vomiting.
This study aims to evaluate the postoperative analgesic efficacy and opioid-sparing effect of the RIFP block in living liver donors compared with standard intravenous analgesia.
5,089 studies on the registry are indexed under Pain, Postoperative; 1,137 are open to participants now.
This study's enrollment of 64 is below the median of 75 across 4,341 interventional studies indexed under Pain, Postoperative.
Browse Pain, Postoperative studies →Istinye University is the lead sponsor of 207 studies on the registry; 88 are open to participants now.
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Exclusion Criteria:
Rectus Intercostal Plane Block Group The patients in the Rectus Intercostal Plane Block group will receive a bilateral rectus intercostal plane block and patient-controlled analgesia (PCA) with morphine for postoperative analgesia.
Other: Rectus Intercostal Plane Block
The patients in the Control group will not receive any regional block and will receive PCA with morphine for postoperative analgesia.
Other: Control (No Block)
Rectus intercostal plane block will be administered bilaterally at the end of the surgery and after skin closure under ultrasound guidance
Ultrasound probe placement on the same region without needle insertion or local anesthetic injection to maintain blinding.
Morphine consumption
The amount of morphine required by the patient and given by the device will be recorded for the first 24 hours.
Time frame: Postoperative 24 hours
Postoperative visual analog scale scores
Postoperative pain will be assessed using a visual analog scale (VAS) (from 0 = no pain to 10 = maximum possible pain) for the first 24 hours.
Time frame: Postoperative 24 hours
Rescue analgesic drug consumption
The amount of rescue analgesic in mg required by the patient will be recorded for the first 24 hours.
Time frame: postoperative 24 hours
Incidence of postoperative nausea and vomiting
Number of patients developing postoperative nausea and vomiting will be recorded for the first 24 hours
Time frame: postoperative 24 hours
This study is completed, as verified in Nov 2025. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.
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Istinye University