Vaginal Laceration During DeliveryPhase 4PAINNCT05972681
The PAIN (Pelvic Area Injection for Numbness) Study
A Phase 4 study testing Bupivacaine and Epinephrine in people with Vaginal Laceration During Delivery, run by Montefiore Medical Center at 1 site in United States.
Trial summary
Postpartum pain can interfere with patient's ability to care for themselves, and their newborn, and untreated pain is associated with risk of greater opioid use, postpartum depression, and development of persistent pain. Read more about this study
- Who is it for?
- Ages 18 years and older, women onlyHealthy volunteers can take part
- Conditions the study is for
- Vaginal Laceration During Delivery
- What is being tested?
- Bupivacaine and Epinephrine
- Could I receive a placebo?
- Yes, some participants may receive a placebo
- How many people
- 3 participants
- Where
- 1 siteUnited States
- Study dates
- 8 Apr 2025to 19 Oct 2025
- Phase
- Phase 4
- Are there results?
- Yes, posted in the registrySummary in the doctors' view
Key requirements
Who can take part, as listed by the sponsor. Only the study team can confirm whether you are eligible, so take this list to your doctor.
- Ages 18 years and older
- Women only
- Healthy volunteers accepted
- Adult, Older adult
Who may be able to join
- Healthy with a singleton pregnancy
- English or Spanish speaking
- Ongoing functioning epidural throughout the laceration repair
- Multiparous or nulliparous
- Ability to consent for themselves
Who cannot join
- Underwent an operative vaginal delivery and whose vaginal delivery was complicated by a postpartum hemorrhage
- Have multiple gestations
- Complaints of non-functioning epidural
- Allergic to bupivacaine and/or epinephrine
- Received an epidural top-off (bolus of local anesthetic injected into the epidural catheter) < 3 hours from the perineal repair
- Experienced extreme pain at time of study consent (pain scale score > 3 on 0-10 scale)
Trial locations and contacts
1 site in 1 country.
United States1 site
Montefiore Medical Center
The Bronx, New York, 10467
About this study
Official title: A Randomized Controlled Trial of Bupivacaine With Epinephrine for Local Pain Control Following Perineal Laceration Repair in Patients With Pre-existing Epidural Analgesia: The PAIN Trial
Postpartum pain can interfere with patient's ability to care for themselves, and their newborn, and untreated pain is associated with risk of greater opioid use, postpartum depression, and development of persistent pain. The research hypothesis of this study is that adding a locally injected analgesic, which will take effect once the epidural analgesia fades, may alleviate perineal pain and improve women's overall well-being and satisfaction.
The objective of this study is to determine if prolonged analgesia and higher rate of maternal satisfaction are found when bupivacaine with epinephrine infiltration is used for perineal repair as compared to sham injection in patients with pre-existing effective epidural analgesia at time of perineal laceration repair.
Read the detailed description
Perineal lacerations, the disruption of the skin, mucosa and sometimes muscles that happen commonly during vaginal birth secondary to stretching of the introitus; are present in more than 75% of all vaginal deliveries. These lacerations can be classified based on the location and depth (layers injured). However, the classification of these lacerations does not correlate necessarily with postpartum pain. Severe lacerations, as those compromising the external or internal anal sphincter are less common and associated with more postpartum pain.
It is common practice that only those lacerations causing bleeding, or distortion of normal pelvic anatomy are repaired. The repair of such lacerations at Montefiore Einstein is usually done using lidocaine for non-epiduralized patients; however, for patients with a functional epidural, no anesthetic agents are given locally to aid on long term pain control.
The prevalence of perineal lacerations is more than 75% of all vaginal deliveries. The repair of such lacerations in the institution is usually done using lidocaine for non-epiduralized patients versus no local injection in patients with a pre-existing epidural analgesia. The prevalence of epidural analgesia use among women who underwent vaginal delivery in cross-sectional study of over 2 million deliveries in the United States was 71.1%. Once the analgesic effect of the epidural analgesia fades, the laceration may cause uncontrolled postpartum pain which can affect both the physical and mental recovery period, extend hospital stays, and increase the potential for serious adverse reactions with pain medications.
- Conditions
- Vaginal Laceration During Delivery
- Being tested
- Bupivacaine, Epinephrine, Sham normal saline arm
What participants receive
What participants receive. In a randomised study each person is assigned to one group by chance.
BupivacaineDrug
10 milliliters (ml) of bupivacaine 0.50% injected to the vaginal laceration site.
EpinephrineDrug
Epinephrine (1:200,000) injected to the vaginal laceration site.
Sham normal saline armOther
10 milliliter (ml) of normal saline injected to the vaginal laceration site.
| Study group | Role | What they receive |
|---|---|---|
| Local Anesthesia arm | Experimental | Bupivicaine and Epinephrine Receives: Drug: Bupivacaine; Drug: Epinephrine |
| Normal saline sham arm | Sham comparator | Not described Receives: Other: Sham normal saline arm |
What is being measured
The primary outcome is the main question the study is designed to answer.
Time to First Analgesic
The average time to first analgesic (TFA), in minutes, will be evaluated as the duration interval from injection to administration of the first analgesic, as applicable.
Measured: Up to 24 hours after perineal laceration
Maternal Satisfaction
Maternal satisfaction will be assessed by participants' rating their ability to carry out their daily living activities. Participants will rate their ability to carry out these activities at 24 hours, 48 hours and 7 days using a 5-point scale (1 = very good; 2 = good; 3 = neutral; 4 = poor; or 5 = very poor) such that lower scores are indicative of increased ability to execute daily living activities. No descriptive statistics were completed given the small sample size.
Measured: 24 hours, 48 hours, and 7 days after perineal laceration
Pain Score After Injection at Perineal Laceration
Participants will self-report measures of symptoms using the Visual Analog Scale (VAS) to determine acute and chronic pain. Participants record a single handwritten mark at one point along the length of a 10-cm line that represents a continuum between the two ends of a scale where "no pain" is on the left end (0 cm) of the scale and the "worst pain" is on the right end of the scale (10 cm). Measurements from the starting point (left end) of the scale to the patients' marks are recorded in centimeters and are interpreted as the intensity of pain. The values will be used to track pain progression for a patient and to compare pain between patients with similar conditions. No descriptive statistics were completed given the small sample size.
Measured: 24 hours, 48 hours, and 7 days after perineal laceration
Timeline
From the start of the study to its completion; the mark is today. Estimated dates are the sponsor’s plan.
- First posted2 Aug 2023
- Study start8 Apr 2025
- Primary completion19 Oct 2025
- Study completion19 Oct 2025
Why it stopped: Difficulty with enrollment
Resources
- Official record on ClinicalTrials.govThe registry entry this page is built from, with its full change history.
- Posted resultsParticipant flow, outcome measures and adverse events reported by the sponsor.
- Publications (7)Papers the sponsor has linked to this study.
- Other trials for Vaginal Laceration During DeliveryStudies of the same condition, open and under way.
- More trials run by Montefiore Medical CenterThe sponsor's other registered studies.
- What the trial phases meanHow a treatment moves from first tests in people to approval.
More details
For doctors and researchers: how the study is designed, who runs it, and its registry IDs.
Study design
- Study type
- Interventional
- Phase
- Phase 4
- Primary purpose
- Treatment
- Allocation
- Randomised
- Intervention model
- Parallel groups
- Masking
- Quadruple blind
- Who is masked
- Participant, Care provider, Investigator, Outcomes assessor
- Enrolment
- 3 participants (actual)
Sponsor and investigators
- Lead sponsor
- Montefiore Medical Center
- Sponsor type
- University, hospital or other
- Responsible party
- Sponsor
- Investigators
- Fatima Estrada, MD, FACOG, Principal investigator, Montefiore Medical Center
IDs, dates and publications
- ClinicalTrials.gov ID
- NCT05972681
- Sponsor's protocol ID
- 2023-14825
- Other IDs
- 2023
- Acronym
- PAIN
- Status last verified
- May 2026
- First submitted
- 17 Jul 2023
- Last updated
- 27 May 2026
- Results posted
- Yes, on ClinicalTrials.gov
- Data monitoring committee
- Yes
- FDA-regulated drug
- Yes
- FDA-regulated device
- No
- Individual data sharing
- No
Publications
Goh R, Goh D, Ellepola H. Perineal tears - A review. Aust J Gen Pract. 2018 Jan-Feb;47(1-2):35-38. doi: 10.31128/AFP-09-17-4333.
PubMed 29429318Butwick AJ, Bentley J, Wong CA, Snowden JM, Sun E, Guo N. United States State-Level Variation in the Use of Neuraxial Analgesia During Labor for Pregnant Women. JAMA Netw Open. 2018 Dec 7;1(8):e186567. doi: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2018.6567.
PubMed 30646335Dengler KL, Simpson KJ, Strauchon CJ, Shaddeau AK, Brooks DI, Gruber DD. A randomized controlled trial of liposomal bupivacaine for pain following obstetrical laceration. Am J Obstet Gynecol MFM. 2020 Aug;2(3):100115. doi: 10.1016/j.ajogmf.2020.100115. Epub 2020 Apr 15.
PubMed 33345866Pharmacologic Stepwise Multimodal Approach for Postpartum Pain Management: ACOG Clinical Consensus No. 1. Obstet Gynecol. 2021 Sep 1;138(3):507-517. doi: 10.1097/AOG.0000000000004517.
PubMed 34412076Schinkel N, Colbus L, Soltner C, Parot-Schinkel E, Naar L, Fournie A, Granry JC, Beydon L. Perineal infiltration with lidocaine 1%, ropivacaine 0.75%, or placebo for episiotomy repair in parturients who received epidural labor analgesia: a double-blind randomized study. Int J Obstet Anesth. 2010 Jul;19(3):293-7. doi: 10.1016/j.ijoa.2009.11.005. Epub 2010 Jun 2.
PubMed 20627696Deshpande JP, Saundattikar GY. Lignocaine Versus Ropivacaine Infiltration for Postpartum Perineal Pain. Anesth Essays Res. 2017 Apr-Jun;11(2):300-303. doi: 10.4103/0259-1162.177191.
PubMed 28663610Mahajan A, Derian A. Local Anesthetic Toxicity. StaPearls. Bookshelf ID: NBK499964. PMID: 29763139
Study at a glance
From the registry record, last updated by the sponsor on 27 May 2026. Recruitment status is as the sponsor reported it: confirm with the study team.
- Official title
- A Randomized Controlled Trial of Bupivacaine With Epinephrine for Local Pain Control Following Perineal Laceration Repair in Patients With Pre-existing Epidural Analgesia: The PAIN Trial
- ClinicalTrials.gov ID
- NCT05972681
- Acronym / sponsor ID
- PAIN / 2023-14825
- Conditions
- Vaginal Laceration During Delivery
- Phase
- Phase 4
- Study type
- Interventional
- Recruitment status
- TerminatedReason stopped: Difficulty with enrollment
- Enrolment
- 3 participants (actual)
- Lead sponsor
- Montefiore Medical CenterUniversity, hospital or other
- Study start
- 8 Apr 2025 (actual)
- Primary completion
- 19 Oct 2025 (actual)
- Study completion
- 19 Oct 2025 (actual)
- First posted
- 2 Aug 2023 (actual)
- Results
- Posted 27 May 2026
Clinical summary
The research question as the sponsor registered it. This describes what the study plans to test, not what it found.
Postpartum pain can interfere with patient's ability to care for themselves, and their newborn, and untreated pain is associated with risk of greater opioid use, postpartum depression, and development of persistent pain. The research hypothesis of this study is that adding a locally injected analgesic, which will take effect once the epidural analgesia fades, may alleviate perineal pain and improve women's overall well-being and satisfaction.
The objective of this study is to determine if prolonged analgesia and higher rate of maternal satisfaction are found when bupivacaine with epinephrine infiltration is used for perineal repair as compared to sham injection in patients with pre-existing effective epidural analgesia at time of perineal laceration repair.
Detailed description
Perineal lacerations, the disruption of the skin, mucosa and sometimes muscles that happen commonly during vaginal birth secondary to stretching of the introitus; are present in more than 75% of all vaginal deliveries. These lacerations can be classified based on the location and depth (layers injured). However, the classification of these lacerations does not correlate necessarily with postpartum pain. Severe lacerations, as those compromising the external or internal anal sphincter are less common and associated with more postpartum pain.
It is common practice that only those lacerations causing bleeding, or distortion of normal pelvic anatomy are repaired. The repair of such lacerations at Montefiore Einstein is usually done using lidocaine for non-epiduralized patients; however, for patients with a functional epidural, no anesthetic agents are given locally to aid on long term pain control.
The prevalence of perineal lacerations is more than 75% of all vaginal deliveries. The repair of such lacerations in the institution is usually done using lidocaine for non-epiduralized patients versus no local injection in patients with a pre-existing epidural analgesia. The prevalence of epidural analgesia use among women who underwent vaginal delivery in cross-sectional study of over 2 million deliveries in the United States was 71.1%. Once the analgesic effect of the epidural analgesia fades, the laceration may cause uncontrolled postpartum pain which can affect both the physical and mental recovery period, extend hospital stays, and increase the potential for serious adverse reactions with pain medications.
Study design
- Primary purpose
- Treatment
- Allocation
- Randomised
- Intervention model
- Parallel groups
- Masking
- Quadruple blind (participant, care provider, investigator, outcomes assessor)
- Number of arms
- 2
| Arm | Type | Receives |
|---|---|---|
| Local Anesthesia arm | Experimental | Drug: Bupivacaine, Drug: EpinephrineBupivicaine and Epinephrine |
| Normal saline sham arm | Sham comparator | Other: Sham normal saline arm |
Who may qualify
- Ages
- 18 years and older
- Sex
- Female only
- Healthy volunteers
- Accepted
- Age groups
- Adult, Older adult
Key inclusion criteria (5 listed)
- Healthy with a singleton pregnancy
- English or Spanish speaking
- Ongoing functioning epidural throughout the laceration repair
- Multiparous or nulliparous
- Ability to consent for themselves
Key exclusion criteria (6 listed)
- Underwent an operative vaginal delivery and whose vaginal delivery was complicated by a postpartum hemorrhage
- Have multiple gestations
- Complaints of non-functioning epidural
- Allergic to bupivacaine and/or epinephrine
- Received an epidural top-off (bolus of local anesthetic injected into the epidural catheter) < 3 hours from the perineal repair
Eligibility is decided by the study team after screening; this overview does not establish that a patient qualifies. Full inclusion and exclusion criteria.
Interventions
| Intervention | Type | Arms |
|---|---|---|
| Bupivacaine10 milliliters (ml) of bupivacaine 0.50% injected to the vaginal laceration site. | Drug | Local Anesthesia arm |
| EpinephrineEpinephrine (1:200,000) injected to the vaginal laceration site. | Drug | Local Anesthesia arm |
| Sham normal saline arm10 milliliter (ml) of normal saline injected to the vaginal laceration site. | Other | Normal saline sham arm |
Primary outcome
Time to First Analgesic
Time frame: Up to 24 hours after perineal laceration
The average time to first analgesic (TFA), in minutes, will be evaluated as the duration interval from injection to administration of the first analgesic, as applicable.
Maternal Satisfaction
Time frame: 24 hours, 48 hours, and 7 days after perineal laceration
Maternal satisfaction will be assessed by participants' rating their ability to carry out their daily living activities. Participants will rate their ability to carry out these activities at 24 hours, 48 hours and 7 days using a 5-point scale (1 = very good; 2 = good; 3 = neutral; 4 = poor; or 5 = very poor) such that lower scores are indicative of increased ability to execute daily living activities. No descriptive statistics were completed given the small sample size.
Pain Score After Injection at Perineal Laceration
Time frame: 24 hours, 48 hours, and 7 days after perineal laceration
Participants will self-report measures of symptoms using the Visual Analog Scale (VAS) to determine acute and chronic pain. Participants record a single handwritten mark at one point along the length of a 10-cm line that represents a continuum between the two ends of a scale where "no pain" is on the left end (0 cm) of the scale and the "worst pain" is on the right end of the scale (10 cm). Measurements from the starting point (left end) of the scale to the patients' marks are recorded in centimeters and are interpreted as the intensity of pain. The values will be used to track pain progression for a patient and to compare pain between patients with similar conditions. No descriptive statistics were completed given the small sample size.
Results and safety
Loading the posted results from ClinicalTrials.gov…
Research links
- Official record on ClinicalTrials.govLast updated by the sponsor 27 May 2026.
- Posted resultsParticipant flow, baseline, all outcome measures and adverse events.
- Background: PubMed 29429318Goh R, Goh D, Ellepola H. Perineal tears - A review. Aust J Gen Pract. 2018 Jan-Feb;47(1-2):35-38. doi: 10.31128/AFP-09-17-4333.
- Background: PubMed 30646335Butwick AJ, Bentley J, Wong CA, Snowden JM, Sun E, Guo N. United States State-Level Variation in the Use of Neuraxial Analgesia During Labor for Pregnant Women. JAMA Netw Open. 2018 Dec 7;1(8):e186567. doi: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2018.6567.
- Background: PubMed 33345866Dengler KL, Simpson KJ, Strauchon CJ, Shaddeau AK, Brooks DI, Gruber DD. A randomized controlled trial of liposomal bupivacaine for pain following obstetrical laceration. Am J Obstet Gynecol MFM. 2020 Aug;2(3):100115. doi: 10.1016/j.ajogmf.2020.100115. Epub 2020 Apr 15.
- Background: PubMed 34412076Pharmacologic Stepwise Multimodal Approach for Postpartum Pain Management: ACOG Clinical Consensus No. 1. Obstet Gynecol. 2021 Sep 1;138(3):507-517. doi: 10.1097/AOG.0000000000004517.
- Background: PubMed 20627696Schinkel N, Colbus L, Soltner C, Parot-Schinkel E, Naar L, Fournie A, Granry JC, Beydon L. Perineal infiltration with lidocaine 1%, ropivacaine 0.75%, or placebo for episiotomy repair in parturients who received epidural labor analgesia: a double-blind randomized study. Int J Obstet Anesth. 2010 Jul;19(3):293-7. doi: 10.1016/j.ijoa.2009.11.005. Epub 2010 Jun 2.
- Background: PubMed 28663610Deshpande JP, Saundattikar GY. Lignocaine Versus Ropivacaine Infiltration for Postpartum Perineal Pain. Anesth Essays Res. 2017 Apr-Jun;11(2):300-303. doi: 10.4103/0259-1162.177191.
- BackgroundMahajan A, Derian A. Local Anesthetic Toxicity. StaPearls. Bookshelf ID: NBK499964. PMID: 29763139
- Individual participant dataSharing planned: No
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Referral and contact
AzTrials does not enrol participants or take referrals. Contact the study team or a site listed below; they decide who can take part. This study is not recruiting at the moment.
Fatima Estrada, MD, FACOG principal investigator
Montefiore Medical Center
1 site in 1 country: see every site and its status.
Questions about this trial
What is this clinical trial studying?
A Phase 4 study testing Bupivacaine and Epinephrine in people with Vaginal Laceration During Delivery, run by Montefiore Medical Center at 1 site in United States.
The full registered description is in the About this study section and the official record.
Who may be eligible to take part?
The sponsor lists 5 inclusion and 6 exclusion criteria. Eligibility is decided by the study team after screening, so read the full criteria and contact a listed site.
Is this clinical trial currently recruiting?
The record says: stopped early, as of the sponsor's last update on 27 May 2026. Status can change between updates, so confirm with the study contact before making plans.
Where is the study taking place?
The record lists 1 site in United States. Whether a site is taking part right now should be confirmed with that site. See every site.
What are the possible benefits and risks?
They depend on the study and the treatment, and no study can promise a benefit. Some participants in this study may receive a placebo. The study team explains the known risks during informed consent, before anyone joins; the record itself does not list them.
What does this phase mean?
Phase 4 studies take place after a treatment is approved, to learn more about its long-term benefits and risks in everyday use.
Not every study follows the same path, and some studies (observational studies, device studies) have no phase.
Are results available for this study?
Yes. Results are posted in the registry (first posted 27 May 2026). A summary is in the For doctors view, and the full results are on ClinicalTrials.gov.
How can a doctor refer a patient or contact the research team?
The record lists no contact. The official record names the sponsor, who can be asked directly. AzTrials does not enrol participants or take referrals.
What does the primary outcome measure?
Time to First Analgesic (time frame: Up to 24 hours after perineal laceration). The study lists 3 primary outcomes in all. It is what the study was designed to measure, not a finding.
Where can I read the original study information?
On the ClinicalTrials.gov record for NCT05972681, which also lists 7 linked publications.
Does a listing mean the treatment is approved or proven to work?
No. A listing means the study is registered. It does not show that the treatment is safe, works, or is approved by a regulator.
How often is this information updated?
AzTrials copies changed records from ClinicalTrials.gov every night and reloads the whole registry every week. The sponsor last updated this record on 27 May 2026.