NCT01554722

Needle Nerve Contact in Ultrasound Guided Femoral Block

Incidence of Intraneural Needle Insertion in Ultrasound Guided Femoral Block: Out of Plane Versus in Plane Approach

• Status: Unknown
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 44 (estimated)
• Sponsor: Hospital Clinic of Barcelona · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 18 Years – 65 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Accepted

Summary

Ultrasound-guided femoral nerve block is a common regional anesthesia technique. The optimal method of needle guidance (in-plane versus out-of-plane) with regards to the block efficacy and avoidance of needle-nerve contact has not been established. In this study the investigators tests the hypothesis that the incidence of needle-nerve contact is higher with the needle insertion in an out-of-plane than with the in-plane approach.

Detailed description

Fourty-four patients with hip fracture (American Society of Anesthesiologists physical status 1-3) are being randomized to receive the femoral block with an out-of-plane (needle inserted at a 45°-60° angle 1 cm caudal to the midpoint of the ultrasound probe just above the femoral nerve) or an in-plane technique (needle inserted 0.5 cm from the side of the probe lateral to the femoral nerve). The data collected includes the depth of needle insertion at the endpoint before injection, response to nerve stimulation, distribution of the injected volume in relation to the nerve (anterior vs posterior, the latter indicating impalement), block efficacy at 20 minutes and 24 hours, and any signs of nerve injury).

Conditions

• Peripheral Nerve Injury

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
PROCEDURE	Needle placement	In plane versus out of plane needle placement techniques

Timeline

• Start date: 2011-11-01
• Primary completion: 2012-03-01
• Completion: 2012-03-01
• First posted: 2012-03-15
• Last updated: 2012-03-15

Locations

2 sites across 2 countries: United States, Spain