Pecto-Intercostal Fascial Plane Block Study

Thousands of heart surgeries are performed every day in the United States. Unattenuated perioperative pain has been shown to contribute to increased morbidity, mortality, length of stay, and healthcare costs. Practice guidelines from the American Society of Regional Anesthesiologists recommend pre-incision techniques to reduce perioperative pain, however in cardiac surgery, there are no commonly used techniques to follow this recommendation. The PIFB is a newly described fascial plane block and existing literature supports the safety and efficacy of the PIFB in cardiac surgery patients. However, there are no randomized controlled trials evaluating this technique with a long-acting depot local anesthetic. The purpose of this study is to determine whether bilateral pecto-intercostal fascial plane blocks with liposomal bupivacaine decrease pain and opioid requirements in patients undergoing cardiac surgery via median sternotomy compared to controls (sham blocks with saline). The primary hypothesis is that patients receiving effective regional anesthesia with liposomal bupivacaine via PIFB will demonstrate a clinically significant (25%) reduction in total daily opioid consumption through 72 hours postoperatively compared to patients receiving standard of care without effective regional anesthesia (saline only via PIFB). This study is a prospective, single-center, randomized, double-blind, controlled trial to evaluate whether bilateral pecto-intercostal fascial plane blocks with liposomal and standard bupivacaine decrease pain and opioid requirements in patients undergoing cardiac surgery via median sternotomy compared to controls (sham blocks with saline). The participants will be randomized to receive bilateral PIFB with a mixture of standard and liposomal bupivacaine or bilateral PIFB with saline only. Recovery characteristics, including opioid consumption, pain scores, duration of mechanical ventilation, ICU length of stay, hospital length of stay, side effects, and chronic opioid use will be evaluated.