Fascia Iliaca Block for Post-Operative Pain Control After Total Hip Arthroplasty

Osteoarthritis of the Hip

This study evaluates post-operative pain management and narcotic consumption in patients receiving a fascia iliaca block with local anesthetic versus patients receiving fascia iliaca block with saline for total hip arthroplasty.

Although many improvements have been made in implant technology and surgical approaches for total hip arthroplasty, management of post-operative pain remains a major clinical issue. Inadequate pain control can lead to numerous unwanted side effects and limited physical function, especially in a older population. Most surgeons have adopted a multi-modality pain management approach using a variety of pharmaceuticals, including nerve block with local anesthetic. In the literature, there are a number of technical variations described for the fascia iliaca nerve block. At The Christ Hospital, Cincinnati, Ohio, anesthesiologists use a more proximal approach to the fasica iliaca block enabling a significantly easier cephalad spread of the local anesthetic into the pelvis targeting all three nerves; the femoral, lateral femoral cutaneous, and the obturator. This prospective, double-blinded, randomized, single-center study is designed to test the primary hypothesis that fascia iliaca block with a local anesthestic decreases narcotic consumption and provides improved pain control compared to placebo in the first 24 hours after surgery in patients undergoing total hip arthroplasty.

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United States