Postoperative Analgesia Intervention With Non-opioid Alternatives (PAIN-Alt) Trial - Breast Surgery
NCT Number: NCT06507345
Acronym: PAIN-Alt
Status: NOT_YET_RECRUITING
Study Type: INTERVENTIONAL
Phases: NA
Conditions: Post Operative Pain|Opioid Analgesic Adverse Reaction|Surgery|Postoperative Pain|Breast Disease
Interventions: OTHER: Opioid Analgesia (OA) [Multimodal analgesia including opioid drugs]|OTHER: Opioid-Free Analgesia (OFA) [Multimodal analgesia not including opioid drugs]
Sponsor: McGill University Health Centre/Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre
Collaborators: Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR)
Sex: ALL
Age: ADULT, OLDER_ADULT
Enrollment: 540
Study Design: Allocation: RANDOMIZED|Intervention Model: PARALLEL|Masking: SINGLE (OUTCOMES_ASSESSOR)|Primary Purpose: TREATMENT
Start Date: 2024-09-01
Completion Date: 2026-02-28

Summary:
North America is experiencing a crisis of opioid use and abuse, partially caused by excessive prescribing by doctors. People often receive their first opioid prescription for pain treatment after outpatient breast surgery (i.e., surgery to remove all or parts of the breast(s), where patients leave the hospital the same day). Many patients misuse these drugs and become addicted. Additionally, many of the opioid pills prescribed to patients are left unused and may be misused by family members, friends, or other community members. To prevent this problem, surgeons can avoid prescribing opioids by prioritizing opioid-free analgesia (i.e., pain treatment using only non-opioid interventions). Prescribing only non-opioid pain medications after surgery is very common in many countries outside of North America; however, few studies have assessed whether opioid-free analgesia is as effective as opioid analgesia after breast surgery. Therefore, the main question driving this study is: For patients who undergo outpatient breast surgery, is pain treatment without opioids as good as pain treatment with opioids?

The proposed trial will compare two groups of patients: one group will receive opioids to treat pain after surgery, while the other group will receive only non-opioid medications. The impact of these different medication strategies will be measured on pain intensity, pain interference with daily activities, medication side effects, and other outcomes. An expert team of scientists, surgeons, pain specialists, nurses, and patients has been assembled to maximize the success of this study. The results will provide important information to guide surgeons' decisions to prescribe (or not to prescribe) opioids. If opioid-free analgesia is found to be effective, doctors may be able to substantially reduce opioid prescribing after breast surgery and prevent more people from misusing opioids.

Primary Outcome Measures: Pain intensity, Pain intensity will be measured using the Brief Pain Inventory-Short Form (BPI), a self-reported pain questionnaire developed by the World Health Organization (WHO). In this questionnaire, pain intensity is measured across four domains (worst, least, on average, and currently). Aggregated scores of pain intensity range from 0-10, with higher scores representing worse outcomes., Postoperative days 1 to 7.|Pain interference, Pain interference will be measured using the Brief Pain Inventory-Short Form (BPI), a self-reported pain questionnaire developed by the World Health Organization (WHO). In this questionnaire, pain interference is measured across seven domains (mood, work, general activity, walking, relationships, enjoyment of life, and sleep). Aggregated scores of pain interference range from 0-10, with higher scores representing worse outcomes., Postoperative days 1 to 7.
Secondary Outcome Measures: Adverse drug events, Data regarding adverse drug events will be obtained from an author-generated questionnaire and from medical records.

Adverse events will be coded using the MedDRA coding dictionary, grade their severity according to the Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events (CTCAE) (1-Mild to 5-Death) and assess potential causality using the WHO/UMC system (certain, probable/likely, possible, unlikely, conditional/unclassified, or un-assessable/un-classifiable)., Up to 30 days after surgery.|Time to stopping pain medication, The time to the first report of stopping the use of pain medication will be calculated based on information obtained via questionnaires responded on day 1 to 7, and weeks 2, 3 and 4 after surgery. The time to stopping pain medication will be calculated based on the first of two consecutive reports of 'no pain medication'., Up to 30 days after surgery.|Physical and Mental Health Status, This outcome will be assessed using PROMIS-29, a generic health survey, which assesses 8 domains of health (physical function, anxiety, depression, fatigue, sleep disturbance, ability to participate in social roles and activities, pain interference, and pain intensity)., Postoperative weeks 1, 2, 3, and 4, postoperative month 3 and 6.|Opioid misuse, This outcome will be assessed using Prescription Opioid Misuse Index which is a 6-item questionnaire includes questions regarding excessive dose, frequency of use, need for early refills, feeling high from the medication, taking the medication due to stress and obtaining prescriptions from multiple physicians., Postoperative weeks 1, 2, 3, and 4, postoperative month 3 and 6.|Satisfaction with pain management, Patients will be asked to rate their overall satisfaction with the pain treatment received after discharge using a question adapted from the American Pain Society Patient Outcome Questionnaire: Please rate your satisfaction with the pain treatment that you received since hospital discharge (Scale 0-10; Extremely Dissatisfied-Extremely Satisfied)., Postoperative day 7.|30-day postoperative complications, Data regarding postoperative complications will be obtained from medical records and graded by severity using the Dindo-Clavien classification. This system grades complications according to the therapy needed for treatment (grades I to IV, best to worse). Complications within 30 days after surgery will be recorded. In addition, the Comprehensive Complication Index (CCI) will be generated for each patient to summarize the complete spectrum of postoperative complications and their severity in a single score ranging from 0 to 100 (best to worse)., Up to 30 days after surgery.|30-day unplanned healthcare utilization, Unplanned healthcare utilization (ED visits and unplanned hospital readmissions) within 30 days after surgery will be extracted from the electronic medical records and patient self-report., Up to 30 days after surgery.|Chronic postsurgical pain, Chronic postsurgical pain will be defined according to ICD-11 as 'pain that develops after a surgical procedure and persists at least 3 months after surgery'. Patients will be asked about chronic pain at 3 and 6 months after surgery using a question modified from the International Pain Outcomes (IPO) Questionnaire. To have a baseline comparator, a similar question will be asked to inquire about the presence of chronic pain preoperatively., Up to 6 months after surgery.|Persistent opioid use, The filling of opioid prescriptions will be monitored for 6 months. According to previous literature, persistent opioid use will be defined when a patient has an opioid prescription filled between 90 and 180 days after surgery. Data is obtained via provincial pharmacy records., Up to 6 months after surgery.