NCT04301687

FAB Block vs. Placebo for Hip Arthroplasty Patients

The Analgesic Efficacy of the Ultrasound-Guided Femoral Articular Branch Block for Ambulatory Hip Arthroplasty: A Randomized-Controlled Trial Secondary IDs:

• Status: Not Yet Recruiting
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 95 (estimated)
• Sponsor: Women's College Hospital · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 18 Years – 85 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Not accepted

Summary

Hip arthroplasty surgery can be associated with significant pain. A regional anesthesia technique, the femoral articular branch block (FAB), has recently been proposed to collectively block terminal femoral and accessory obturator nerve branches to the hip joint with a single injection, theoretically blocking most of the innervation relevant to hip arthroscopy while sparing the main femoral nerve branches to the quadriceps muscles. The investigators aim to demonstrate the analgesic benefits of FAB. The investigators hypothesize that FAB will reduce opioid consumption and improve postoperative quality of recovery in patients having hip arthroplasty. This is a randomized, controlled, double-blind study and half the patients will be randomized to receive the femoral articular branch block and the other half of patients will be randomized to receive a placebo block. A comparison of pain will be made between both groups.

Detailed description

Hip arthroplasty procedure is frequently associated with severe post-operative pain despite the practice of injecting the hip joint with local anesthetics at the end of the procedure and the use of intraoperative opioids. These patients usually receive a spinal anesthetic as well. The ideal analgesic technique that provides adequate pain relief following this procedure has not been established yet. The femoral articular branch block (FAB) has recently been proposed to collectively block the terminal femoral and accessory obturator nerve branches to the hip joint with a single injection, theoretically blocking most of the innervation relevant to hip arthroscopy while sparing the main femoral nerve branches to the quadriceps muscle. The investigators aim to demonstrate the analgesic benefits of FAB.

Conditions

• Hip Arthroplasty
• Anesthesia, Regional
• Femoral Articular Branch Block

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
PROCEDURE	Femoral Articular Branch Block	Slow injection (3mL aliquots) of local anesthetic solution (20ml of Ropivacaine 0.5%) into the fascia above the iliopsoas muscle (located in the groove between the two bony landmarks - (1)anterior inferior iliac crest and (2)iliopubic eminence).This is done by ultrasound guidance.
PROCEDURE	Placebo Block	Subcutaneous injection of 1ml normal sterile saline

Timeline

• Start date: 2025-12-01
• Primary completion: 2026-12-01
• Completion: 2026-12-01
• First posted: 2020-03-10
• Last updated: 2025-03-27