An interventional study of Chemical Neurolysis in Upper Abdominal Cancer Pain, Pancreatic Cancer and Gastric Cancer, sponsored by Sahiwal medical college sahiwal. Not yet recruiting at 1 site in Pakistan. Open to participants aged 18 Years and older. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-09-17.
Sponsored by Sahiwal medical college sahiwal · Not applicable, Interventional, and Treatment
The goal of this prospective study is to learn whether fluoroscopy-guided transdiscal splanchnic nerve neurolysis can safely reduce severe upper abdominal cancer pain in adults with pancreatic, gastric, or hepatobiliary cancer. The study will also assess whether this procedure can reduce the need for opioid pain medicines and improve patients' functional status and quality of life.
The main questions it aims to answer are:
Does the procedure reduce patients' pain one month after treatment?
Does it reduce the amount of opioid pain medication patients need?
Does it improve functional status and quality of life?
What complications or side effects occur after the procedure?
How long does pain relief last, and how often is repeat treatment needed?
Participants will:
First receive a diagnostic splanchnic nerve block with local anesthetic.
If the diagnostic block provides at least 50% pain relief, undergo transdiscal splanchnic nerve neurolysis using fluoroscopy guidance.
Receive a neurolytic agent (absolute alcohol or phenol) through a needle placed at the T11-T12 or T12-L1 level.
Have their pain, opioid medication use, functional status, complications, and satisfaction assessed before treatment and during follow-up.
Complete follow-up assessments at 1 week, 1 month, 3 months, and 6 months after the procedure.
Complete a quality-of-life questionnaire before treatment and at 1 month.
The primary outcome will be the change in pain score on the 0-10 Numeric Rating Scale at 1 month after the procedure.
3,896 studies on the registry are indexed under Pancreatic Neoplasms; 1,007 are open to participants now.
This study's planned enrollment of 40 is below the median of 47 across 2,932 interventional studies indexed under Pancreatic Neoplasms.
Browse Pancreatic Neoplasms studies →Sahiwal medical college sahiwal is the lead sponsor of 11 studies on the registry; 7 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.
Baseline NRS ≥ 7 despite optimized pharmacotherapy, or intolerable opioid side effects.
≥ 50% pain relief on diagnostic splanchnic nerve block. Able to provide .
Exclusion Criteria:
Intestinal obstruction. Known allergy to contrast, local anesthetic, or the neurolytic agent. Patient refusal.
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.
Malignancy means cancer. Criteria about another or earlier malignancy ask whether you have had a different cancer, usually within a set number of years.
Some are commonly allowed, such as treated skin cancers other than melanoma and early cancers removed completely — check the exceptions this study lists.
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.
Blood tests of how long blood takes to clot. The INR is the prothrombin time (PT) put on a common scale; about 1 is usual for someone not taking a blood thinner.
Criteria often make an exception for people on a blood thinner such as warfarin, whose INR is raised on purpose.
Blood cells that help blood clot. Too few raises the risk of bleeding and bruising. A usual adult range is about 150–400 × 10⁹/L (150,000–400,000 per µL); each lab has its own reference range.
Cancer (malignancy)
Malignancy means cancer. Criteria about another or earlier malignancy ask whether you have had a different cancer, usually within a set number of years.
Some are commonly allowed, such as treated skin cancers other than melanoma and early cancers removed completely — check the exceptions this study lists.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
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.
INR, PT and aPTT (clotting tests)
Blood tests of how long blood takes to clot. The INR is the prothrombin time (PT) put on a common scale; about 1 is usual for someone not taking a blood thinner.
Criteria often make an exception for people on a blood thinner such as warfarin, whose INR is raised on purpose.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Platelets
Blood cells that help blood clot. Too few raises the risk of bleeding and bruising. A usual adult range is about 150–400 × 10⁹/L (150,000–400,000 per µL); each lab has its own reference range.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Participant will undergo chemical neurolysis using the study specified neurolytic agent for management of chronic pain. the intervention will be administered according to study protocol, with participant followed prospectively for pain relief and treatment related outcomes
Procedure: Chemical Neurolysis
Chemical neurolysis will be performed using the study-specified neurolytic agent (alcohol or phenol) to provide pain relief in patients with chronic pain. The procedure will be performed under appropriate clinical and imaging guidance according to the study protocol. Participants will be followed prospectively to assess pain relief, duration of analgesia, functional outcomes, and procedure-related adverse events
Change in pain intensity
Pain intensity will be assessed using the 0-10 Numeric Rating Scale (NRS), where 0 represents no pain and 10 represents the worst imaginable pain. The change in NRS pain score from baseline will be assessed following fluoroscopy-guided transdiscal splanchnic nerve neurolysis.
Time frame: Baseline to 1 month after the procedure
Change in quality of life
Quality of life will be assessed using the EORTC QLQ-C30 questionnaire.
Time frame: Baseline, 1 month, 3 months, and 6 months
Technical success of neurolysis
Successful completion of fluoroscopy-guided transdiscal splanchnic nerve neurolysis as intended according to the study protocol.
Time frame: During the procedure
Opioid consumption
Change in daily opioid consumption expressed as oral morphine milligram equivalents (MME) compared with baseline.
Time frame: Baseline, 1 week, 1 month,
Plan to share: No
This study is not yet recruiting, as verified in Sep 2026. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.
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