Pre-op Femoral Nerve Block for Hip Fracture

• Status: Terminated
• Trial end date: 2020-01-01
• Target enrollment: 0
• Participant gender: All

Summary

Hip fractures (broken hips) are common in older people, particularly older women with fragile bones, and usually occur with a simple fall from a standing height. In Canada, over 28,000 hip fractures occur every year, and approximately 900 occur in Edmonton. After a hip fracture, up to 50% of those who survive their hip fracture do not recover to the same level of activity that they had before breaking their hip. Managing pain with any broken bone is very important. For patients with hip fracture, their older age and fragile health makes pain management even more challenging. Many patients with a hip fracture have reduced ability to think clearly before the fracture. Some patients who have no difficulty with thinking before their hip fracture will become confused for a brief period after their hip fracture or can develop permanent difficulties with thinking. A hip fracture will usually require an operation, and choosing the right pain medication before and after the operation is important since many pain medications make confusion more likely. Permanent difficulty with thinking is a common reason for poor recovery after hip fracture. Our study will look at use of a nerve block to manage pain before patients have their operation. A nerve block provides local pain relief without requiring patients to take the medication by mouth (oral) or through an intravenous (IV) route. A nerve block before surgery may reduce the amount of oral and IV pain medication needed by the patient both before and after their operation but still provide good pain control with less confusion. This could lead to better recovery and allow more patients to return to living in the community rather than long-term care.

• Phase: N/A
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers?: No

Details

• Lead Sponsor: University of Alberta
• Treatments: Anesthetics; Anesthetics, Local; Bupivacaine; Ropivacaine

Criteria

Inclusion Criteria:

• Ambulatory pre-fracture

• Sustained a low-energy hip fracture (i.e., fall from standing)

• Mini Mental Status Examination (MMSE) score of 13 (moderate dementia) or greater

• Consent to participate in study

Exclusion Criteria:

• Failure to obtain consent

• Admitted to hospital more than 30 hours from injury

• Regular use of opiate medications

• Confusion Assessment Method (CAM) test not performed within 6 hours of ward admission

• Known allergy to local anesthetic