Table 1. Schedule of clinical study procedures and assessments.

a: Coagulation studies including PT, PPT, INR, and platelet count were estimated by point-of-care testing.

b: APRs IL-6, CRP, and D-dimer were measured.

c: Measured at 48 hours post-intervention.

d: Standard of care.

VAS: visual analog scale, ECG: electrocardiogram, PT: prothrombin time, PTT: partial thromboplastin time, INR: international normalized ratio, APR: acute phase reactants, IL-6: interleukin-6, CRP: C-reactive protein, SOC: standard of care

Procedure	Screening	Baseline	6 hours	12 hours	24 hours	36-48 hours	48-72 hours	1 week	Discharge
Inclusion/exclusion	X	X		X
Informed consent	X
Demographics	X
Medical history	X
Physical examination including ECG	X				X		X
Hemoglobin and coagulation profilea	X				X		X
Sampling for CRPb, IL-6, and D-dimer		X		X	X	Xc	X
Sampling for serum cortisol		X			X		X	X
Randomization
Intervention (epidural analgesia or SOCd)			X	X	X	X	X
Adverse events				X	X		X	X
VAS scoring				X	X	X	X	X
Likert scoring									X