Randomized Controlled Trial of the STEIN Protocol: A Neuroplastic Pain Education and Guided Breathing Intervention During Awake Cataract Surgery

Overview

This randomized controlled trial evaluates whether a standardized perioperative neuroplastic intervention: the STEIN Protocol (Strategies and Techniques for Enhancing Integration and Neuroplasticity), consisting of pain neuroscience education, guided imagery, and paced breathing, reduces intraoperative analgesic and anxiolytic requirements. Secondary outcomes include patient-reported pain, anxiety, satisfaction, and postoperative recovery following cataract surgery. Reduced intraoperative sedative and analgesic requirements may reflect improved patient comfort and autonomic regulation while minimizing medication-related adverse effects.

The STEIN Protocol is a randomized behavioral intervention designed to evaluate whether standardized, non-pharmacologic interventions can help patients have a more comfortable and safe surgical experience. Cataract surgery provides a highly standardized operative model with minimal procedural variability, making it well suited for evaluating perioperative behavioral interventions while minimizing confounding from surgical complexity. The intervention is based on contemporary models of pain neuroscience, which propose that cognitive appraisal, expectancy, autonomic regulation, and attentional processes influence pain perception independent of tissue injury. Participants in the study will receive standard cataract surgery, with some patients also taking part in the STEIN Protocol. This includes watching a short educational video before surgery, following slow, guided breathing during the procedure, and practicing brief breathing exercises at home for one week after surgery. The intervention is designed to reduce sympathetic arousal and promote parasympathetic regulation through standardized paced breathing and guided cognitive attention. The intervention is intended to modify cognitive appraisal, attentional focus, and autonomic regulation, thereby influencing pain perception throughout the perioperative period. The study will compare pain levels, medication use, recovery, and patient satisfaction between groups to determine whether this standardized, scalable approach can improve the surgical experience and potentially benefit patients undergoing many types of surgery in the future. We hypothesize that participants receiving the STEIN Protocol will require less intraoperative anxiolytic and analgesic medication while reporting lower pain, lower anxiety, and greater satisfaction than participants receiving standard care. Surgical technique, anesthetic management, questionnaire administration, and postoperative follow-up will be standardized across study groups. Adherence to each component of the intervention will be documented to assess intervention fidelity.