The Efficacy of Automated Intermittent Boluses for Continuous Femoral Nerve Block: a Prospective, Randomized Comparison to Continuous Infusions

Status

Completed

Phases

Study type

Interventional

Source

ClinicalTrials.gov

Registry ID

NCT01226927

Enrollment

Registered

2010-10-22

Start date

2009-04-30

Completion date

2010-04-30

Last updated

2010-10-22

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

Arthroplasty, Replacement, Knee, Nerve Block

Brief summary

The optimal infusion technique (continuous rate vs. intermittent bolus) for peripheral nerve blocks has not been established. To our knowledge, this is the first study to compare the efficacy of an automated intermittent bolus technique to a continuous rate of infusion of local anesthetic in femoral nerve catheters. We hypothesized that the intermittent bolus technique would provide enhanced analgesia compared to a continuous infusion rate as assessed by intravenous patient-controlled analgesia (IV-PCA) hydromorphone consumption and visual analog scale (VAS) pain scores.

Interventions

OTHERAutomated intermittent bolus

Automated intermittent bolus delivery method of 0.2% ropivacaine at 5 mL every 30 minutes with a basal infusion of 0.1 mL/hr.

Study design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Intervention model

PARALLEL

Primary purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

SINGLE (Subject)

Eligibility

Sex/Gender

ALL

Age

18 Years to 80 Years

Healthy volunteers

Inclusion criteria

* American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) physical status 1 through 3 * elective, primary, unilateral TKA

Exclusion criteria

* patient refusal * pregnancy * diabetic neuropathy or any other neurologic or neuromuscular disease * rheumatoid arthritis * current coagulopathy * skin infection at needle insertion site for the femoral or sciatic blocks * significant renal or hepatic impairment * unsuccessful femoral or sciatic block or femoral catheter placement * femoral catheter dislodgement after placement * inability to understand VAS pain scales * inability to use an IV-PCA pump

Design outcomes

Primary

Measure	Time frame
Intravenous patient-controlled analgesia opioid consumption	Cumulative IV-PCA use was recorded until femoral nerve catheter removed on postoperative day 2.
Visual analog pain scale score	Preop; Immediately postoperatively in PACU; Postoperative day (POD) 0 at 8pm; POD 1 at 8am, 2pm & 8pm; POD 2 at 8am

Secondary

Measure	Time frame
Visual analog scale patient satisfaction scores	POD 1 at 8am; POD 2 at 8am
Incidence of physician administered rescue boluses of the femoral nerve catheter	—
Hospital length of stay	—

Countries

United States

Outcome results

None listed

Source: ClinicalTrials.gov · Data processed: Mar 23, 2026