ClinicalTrials.gg
Not yet recruitingNCT07785674Updated Aug 25, 2026

Arm Elevation for Prevention of Propofol Injection Pain

An interventional study of Passive arm elevation and Normal saline in Propofol Injection Pain, sponsored by Mayo Clinic. Not yet recruiting at 1 site in United States. Open to participants aged 18 Years and older. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-08-25.

Sponsored by Mayo Clinic · Not applicable, Interventional, and Prevention

Phase
Not applicable
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
45
Allocation
Randomized
Ages
18 Years and older
Sex
All
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Study summary

The purpose of this research is to determine whether a simple technique, temporarily raising the arm during the injection of propofol (a commonly used medication for anesthesia), can reduce the pain that some people experience when the medication is given through an IV. The study will compare this technique with the current standard approach of using lidocaine (a numbing medication), as well as a combination of both methods, to determine which approach is most effective at reducing injection pain.

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Conditions studied

  • Propofol Injection Pain

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Keywords

  • propofol injection pain, propofol pain, passive arm elevation, lidocaine pretreatment,
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In context

Pain

10,054 studies on the registry are indexed under Pain; 1,649 are open to participants now.

This study's planned enrollment of 45 is below the median of 66 across 8,493 interventional studies indexed under Pain.

Browse Pain studies →

Lead sponsor

Mayo Clinic is the lead sponsor of 3,269 studies on the registry; 672 are open to participants now.

Of its 452 completed or terminated interventional studies of FDA-regulated products, 321 (71%) have results posted.

Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.

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Who can participate

Ages eligible
18 Years and older
Sexes eligible
All
Accepts healthy volunteers
No

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.

Inclusion criteria

  • 18G or 20G dorsal hand working IV in place (drip by gravity)
  • Planned IV propofol infusion with natural airway
  • Able to provide consent
  • Able to report pain
  • English-speaking

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Allergy to propofol/lidocaine
  • Significant cognitive impairment/acute psychosis
  • Any sedative medications given prior to the study
  • Pregnancy
  • Severe upper-extremity mobility limitation that prevents safe arm elevation
  • Emergency medical condition; (e.g. GI bleeding, sepsis, acute heart or respiratory failure)
  • Chronic pain syndrome with chronic opioid use
  • Any acute pain condition that may be distracting to the patient
  • Any report of pain on gravity drip, injection of saline or spontaneous pain when testing the iv in preop prior to bringing the patient to the OR
  • Pathology or prior surgery that is deemed to interfere with normal venous drainage of the arm (arterio-venous fistula, history of port or dialysis line, , history of heart failure)
  • History of past or current cardiac arrhythmias, cardiac valvular abnormalities, /heart failure, stable angina that are expected to require concomitant administration of vasoactive or inotropic medications with induction
  • or stroke within the last 3 months
Terms in these criteria, in plain language(2)

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.

ASA physical status

The anaesthetists’ scale of health before surgery: I is healthy, II has a mild illness that is under control, III a severe one, IV a severe illness that is a constant threat to life. V and VI are used for the critically ill and for organ donors.

TIA (transient ischaemic attack)

A “mini-stroke”: temporary stroke-like symptoms caused by reduced blood flow to part of the brain, spinal cord or eye, without signs of a new stroke on a scan.

Stroke symptoms need emergency care at once, even if they go away.

05

Study design

Phase
Not applicable
Primary purpose
Prevention
Allocation
Randomized
Intervention model
Parallel assignment
Masking
Single (Outcomes assessor)
Enrollment
45 participants (estimated)

Study arms

  • Experimental
    Arm Elevation Only

    Participants receive saline pretreatment followed by propofol injection with passive elevation of the cannulated arm during propofol injection.

    Procedure: Passive arm elevation · Drug: Normal saline · Drug: Propofol

  • Active comparator
    Lidocaine Only

    Participants receive lidocaine pretreatment followed by propofol injection while the cannulated arm remains neutral. The non-IV arm is elevated as a sham maneuver.

    Drug: Lidocaine · Drug: Propofol · Procedure: Sham arm elevation

  • Experimental
    Lidocaine Plus Arm Elevation

    Participants receive lidocaine pretreatment followed by propofol injection with passive elevation of the cannulated arm during propofol injection.

    Procedure: Passive arm elevation · Drug: Lidocaine · Drug: Propofol

Interventions

  • ProcedurePassive arm elevation

    The cannulated arm is passively elevated approximately 60 to 90 degrees at the start of propofol injection and maintained briefly during and immediately after the injection before being returned to heart level.

  • DrugNormal saline

    Normal saline 0.9%, 2 mL, administered intravenously as sham lidocaine before propofol injection.

  • Lidocaine 2%, 2 mL, administered intravenously before propofol injection.

  • Standard LCT propofol administered as a standardized subanesthetic test dose, calculated as one-quarter of a 2.5 mg/kg induction dose using total body weight up to BMI 30 or ideal body weight above BMI 30, with a maximum study dose of 50 mg.

  • ProcedureSham arm elevation

    The contralateral non-IV arm is elevated while the cannulated arm remains neutral.

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Incidence of Any Propofol Injection Pain

    Proportion of participants reporting any propofol injection pain during or immediately after the standardized propofol test dose, defined as a verbal rating scale score of 1 or greater on a 4-point verbal rating scale where 0 indicates no pain, 1 mild pain, 2 moderate pain, and 3 severe pain.

    Time frame: Within approximately 30 seconds from the start of propofol injection.

Secondary outcomes

  1. Pain Severity Score

    Pain severity measured as the participant's highest pain score during or immediately after the standardized propofol test dose using a 4-point verbal rating scale, where 0 indicates no pain, 1 mild pain, 2 moderate pain, and 3 severe pain.

    Time frame: Within approximately 30 seconds from the start of propofol injection.

  2. Incidence of Moderate-to-Severe Propofol Injection Pain

    Proportion of participants with moderate-to-severe propofol injection pain, defined as a verbal rating scale score of 2 or 3 on the 4-point verbal rating scale.

    Time frame: Within approximately 30 seconds from the start of propofol injection.

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Study locations

1 site
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References and documents

Individual participant data

Plan to share: No

No publications or documents are linked to this record.

09

Timeline

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
ElapsedEstimatedEstimated, not yet reachedSimilar studies: half by the dot; the band is the middle halfHalf of similar studies reached it by the dot; the band is the middle half, from a quarter to three quarters

Start is estimated for Sep 2026; primary completion for Jan 2027, 4 months later.

Of 3,731 non-industry interventional studies with no phase under Pain, half reached primary completion within 10 months of starting (the median), counting those still running; a quarter within 4 and three quarters within 23. This study's planned 4 months is below that.

Counting every sponsor, half of 3,830 studies reached it within 10 months; a quarter within 4 and three quarters within 23.

How these figures are worked out, and which studies are left out of them.

Registered
Aug 21, 2026
First posted
Aug 25, 2026
StartEst.
Sep 2026
Primary completionEst.
Jan 2027
CompletionEst.
Feb 2027
Last update
Aug 25, 2026
What these dates mean
Start.
When the first participant enrolled; while estimated, when the study expects to open to recruitment.
Primary completion.
When the last participant was examined or treated to collect data for the study's main question, its primary outcome. A study that stopped early gives the date its data collection stopped.
Completion.
When the last participant's last visit took place, for every outcome, secondary ones and side effects included: the end of the study. Often later than primary completion, sometimes the same day.
Actual and Est.
Actual means the registry says the date has happened. Est. (estimated) is a date the sponsor plans or expects. It can still move, and the sponsor is expected to change it to actual once it has passed.
No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on Aug 25, 2026, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
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Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT07785674
Lead sponsor
Mayo Clinic
Responsible party
Ferenc Rabai (Principal Investigator, Mayo Clinic) — Principal investigator
First posted
Aug 25, 2026
Start date
Sep 2026 (estimated)
Primary completion
Jan 2027 (estimated)
Completion
Feb 2027 (estimated)
Last update
Aug 25, 2026

Study contacts

Mariel Anne Reyes
Contact
Reyes.Mariel@mayo.edu
904-953-4797
Ally Sapin
Contact
Sapin.Alyssa@mayo.edu
904-953-7929
Ferenc Rabai, MD
principal investigator · Mayo Clinic

Oversight

Data monitoring committee
No
FDA-regulated drug
No
FDA-regulated device
No
View the source record on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

Not currently enrolling

This study is not yet recruiting, 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: Lidocaine

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