Effect of the Early Ultrasound-guided Femoral Nerve Block Performed by Emergency Physicians on Pre-operative Opioids Usage in Patients With Proximal Femoral Fractures — FORELEG  

Femoral Fracture Clinical Trial

Official title: Effect of the Early Ultrasound-guided Femoral Nerve Block Performed by Emergency Physicians on Pre-operative Opioids Usage in Patients With Proximal Femoral Fractures: a Randomized Controlled Trial

Status Completed

Clinical Trial Summary

In France, approximately 80,000 patients with a fracture of the upper extremity of the femur (femoral neck or trochanter) are admitted in the emergency department. This is a serious disease with a one-year mortality rate of 29% (i.e., 1 of 5 women and 1 of 3 men), and significant consequences on quality of life and autonomy. The morbidity of these fractures is closely related to the occurrence of altered mental status or delirium, before and after surgery. The diagnosis is based on clinical features and x-rays of the hip. These fractures are associated with severe level of pain, before and after the surgery. For emergency physicians, managing appropriately the pain is a common problem at the admission in the emergency room. Proper pain management is essential to ensure patients' comfort before surgery, but also to ensure their return to their previous functional and cognitive state after surgery. For patients, the goal of treatment is to regain walking as quickly as possible, while minimizing surgical and medical complications. However, severe pain induced by the fracture may lead to an acute altered mental status or delirium. In France, the latest guidelines about analgesia in emergency medicine reported that local anesthesia and loco-regional anesthesia (LRA) are useful and should be promoted in emergency medicine. In 2010, these guidelines proposed to perform LRA techniques such as iliofascial block more widely available. In 2016, the largest review of the literature on the use of regional nerve blocks for hip and femoral neck fractures in the emergency department [MEDLINE (1946-2014), EMBASE (1947-2014), CINAHL (1960-2014), and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials] indicated that the femoral nerve block was likely to be at least as effective as, if not superior to, standard analgesic practices for decreasing pain after ESF fracture.

The authors of the meta-analysis suggested the superiority of ultrasound guidance compared to anatomic techniques or use of neurostimulation for an adequate needle placement. Despite the increasing availability of ultrasound in the emergency department, recent literature supporting the efficacy of ultrasound-guided femoral nerve block, and the improvement of ultrasound skills in routine emergency medicine practice, the literature lacks of data about the effective duration of action, medication influence, and the occurrence of complications when an ultrasound-guided femoral nerve block is used by emergency physicians at the admission.

For patients with hip fractures, it is questioned if ultrasound-guided femoral block used early on admission in the emergency room is in more efficient than intravenous morphine titration in reducing opioid use before surgery? Our hypothesis is that early use of ultrasound-guided femoral nerve block in the emergency room decreases preoperative opioid use (intravenous and/or oral) in patients with proximal femoral fractures.

Clinical Trial Description

n/a

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• Emergencies
• Femoral Fracture
• Femoral Fractures
• Femoral Nerve Block
• Fractures, Bone

• NCT number: NCT05515718
• Study type: Interventional
• Source: Fondation Hôpital Saint-Joseph
• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Start date: September 7, 2022
• Completion date: December 31, 2022