Title {1}	Ultrasound guided erector spinae plane (ESP) catheter versus video-assisted paravertebral catheter placement in minimally invasive thoracic surgery (MITS): Comparing continuous infusion analgesic techniques on early quality of recovery, respiratory function and chronic persistent surgical pain: study protocol for a double-blinded randomised controlled trial.
Trial registration {2a and 2b}.	This trial was pre-registered on ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT04729712. Registered on 28 January 2021. All item from the World Health Organisation Trial Registration Data set have been included. https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04729712
Protocol version {3}	Protocol version 8: 01 May, 2021
Funding {4}	This trial is being funded internally from the division of Anaesthesiology & Perioperative Medicine, Mater University Hospital. The trial has also received external funding (total of 1,000 euros) from the Irish Society of Regional Anaestheia (ISRA).
Author details {5a}	(1): Dr Aneurin Moorthy*: Anaesthesia research fellow, Division of Anaesthesiology & Perioperative Medicine, Mater University Hospital, Dublin, Ireland; aneurin.moorthy@gmail.com*Correspondence (2): Dr Aisling Ni Eochagain: Anaesthesia Specialist Registrar, Department of anaesthesia and critical care, St James’s University Hospital, Dublin, Ireland; aislingnie@gmail.com. (4): Dr Eamon Dempsey: Anaesthesia Specialist Registrar, Department of anaesthesia and critical care, St James’s University Hospital, Dublin, Ireland; edempsey376@msn.com (3): Professor Donal J. Buggy**: Consultant Anaesthesiologist, Division of Anaesthesiology & Perioperative Medicine, Division of Anaesthesiology & Perioperative Medicine, Mater University Hospital, Dublin, Ireland; donal.buggy@ucd.ie **Principal investigator
Name and contact information for the trial sponsor {5b}	Division of Anaesthesiology & Perioperative Medicine, Division of Anaesthesiology & Perioperative Medicine, Mater University Hospital, Dublin, Ireland. Anaes@mater.ie office: Office: 003531803 2286/2281
Role of sponsor {5c}	This is a hypothesis-driven, investigator-initiated trial. Therefore, the funders played no role in the design of the study, data collection, analysis, interpretation of data or in the writing of the manuscript.