# Chest Tube with Sustained Release of Local Anesthetic Agents for Pain Reduction in Cardiothoracic Surgeries

> **NIH NIH R41** · MEDICAL ELUTION DEVICES LLC · 2024 · $275,752

## Abstract

Project Summary:
Chest tubes are commonly implanted between the ribs and into the pleural space after cardiac surgery and during
management of thoracic injury. While these devices are essential for providing drainage of air and fluid from this
space, they are exquisitely painful because they mechanically irritate sensitive pleural membranes and intercostal
space with normal breathing and upper body movements. In fact, the indwelling chest tube is often listed by
patients as one of the most painful and dissatisfying aspects of their post-surgical care. The severity of the pain
necessitates serial, systemic administration of opiate medications in approximately 80% of patients with a chest
tube. This opioid use produces many deleterious side effects including respiratory depression, sedation,
hypotension, urinary retention, and nausea/vomiting that slow patient recovery. In addition, opioid use comes
with a risk of dependence, potentially leading to life altering addiction issues for some patients.
The overall goal of this proposal is to create and test a drug eluting chest tube to locally manage the pain of the
device using a non-narcotic anesthetic agent. Local treatment of the pain of a chest tube would be highly
advantageous in reducing or eliminating the need for systemic opioids for controlling pain from the implanted
chest tube. This would provide a significant benefit to patients in reducing pain, speeding recovery,
and lowering the risk of side effects and addiction.Using a novel, patent pending technique, our preliminary
studies have demonstrated that we are able deliver high levels of anesthetic agents locally from a chest tube for
several weeks. The overall goal of this proposal is to develop this technology into a clinical device that can be
tested in human studies. We propose the following specific aims: Aim 1. Complete GMP/GLP studies of drug
release kinetics, drug stability and manufacturing repeatability for the drug releasing chest tube. Aim 2. Perform
studies to evaluate mechanical stability over time and clinical usability by cardiothoracic surgeons.
Local delivery of a non-narcotic painkiller from the chest tube will reduce or remove the need to treat patients
with systemic narcotics. This would reduce healthcare costs by lowering the risk of side effects and addiction
potential from narcotic administration and enhancing the time of recovery. In addition, our technology could be
easily adapted for delivery of other agents including anti-inflammatory or anti-thrombotic compounds. Thus, it
may have wide applicability to other indwelling medical devices.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 11006814
- **Project number:** 1R41HL176225-01
- **Recipient organization:** MEDICAL ELUTION DEVICES LLC
- **Principal Investigator:** Aaron Blair Baker
- **Activity code:** R41 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $275,752
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2024-09-19 → 2026-09-18

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/11006814

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 11006814, Chest Tube with Sustained Release of Local Anesthetic Agents for Pain Reduction in Cardiothoracic Surgeries (1R41HL176225-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-25 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/11006814. Licensed CC0.

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