About the LOLIPOP trial
The LOLIPOP trial is already taking place in other countries. Australia is the lead country and the Australian trial team completed a pilot trial of lidocaine infusions in 150 patients undergoing breast cancer surgery in three hospitals in Western Australia. The results have shown that the methods are safe but more participants in the trial are needed to find out if lidocaine is effective in preventing chronic pain. The trial is now being run in the UK, and we hope to do this in around 10 NHS hospitals across the country.
Why are we running the LOLIPOP trial?
When patients undergo surgery they may experience lots of pain around the area operated on. In some cases, patients’ pain can last for years, and cannot be helped with medicine, resulting in lower quality of life. This is particularly common after breast cancer surgery, with 1 in 4 women reporting significant pain many years later. There are currently no established treatments that prevent persistent pain after surgery.
Local anaesthetics are drugs that give pain relief to the area in which they are applied. The LOLIPOP trial aims to find out whether a type of local anaesthetic, lidocaine, given via a drip during breast cancer surgery and for up to 24 hours afterwards, reduces the number of patients reporting significant pain one year after their surgery.