Adductor Canal Block Versus Femoral Block on Pain and Quadriceps Strength

Anterior Cruciate Ligament Tear Clinical Trial

Official title:

Effects of Ultrasound-guided Adductor Canal Block Versus Femoral Nerve Block on Pain and Quadriceps Strength After Ambulatory Knee Arthroscopic Surgery

Clinical Trial Details — Status: Completed

Administrative data

• NCT number: NCT05190120
• Other study ID #: 14-13071
• Status: Completed
• Phase: Phase 4
• Start date: January 2016
• Est. completion date: March 20, 2022

Study information

• Verified date: January 2023
• Source: University of California, San Francisco
• Contact: n/a
• Is FDA regulated: No
• Study type: Interventional

Clinical Trial Summary

The purpose of this study is to compare the effects of a femoral nerve block vs. an adductor canal block on pain and quadriceps muscle strength for knee arthroscopy surgery.

Description:

Patients undergoing arthroscopic knee surgery (ACL and non-ACL surgery) typically receive an ultrasound-guided femoral nerve block or an adductor canal block in the pre-operative phase for post-operative pain control. While an effective method for post-operative analgesia, the femoral nerve block is associated with profound quadriceps weakness for the duration of the nerve block, which can impair ambulation, rehabilitation, and increase the risk of falls. The more distal adductor canal block, however, contains primarily sensory branches of the femoral nerve and has been been purported by small volunteer studies to provide equally effective analgesia with minimal motor block and quadriceps weakness (as compared to femoral nerve block).

The investigators will prospectively randomize patients undergoing knee arthroscopy at the UCSF Orthopaedic Institute to receive either a single-shot femoral nerve or adductor canal block pre-operatively after taking baseline measurements of quadriceps strength (quantified by maximum voluntary isometric contraction). The quadriceps muscle strength will be checked 20 minutes after the nerve block to assess strength. All patients will subsequently undergo a general anesthetic. The primary outcome variable will be post-block quadriceps strength as a percentage of baseline from pre-block values. Secondary outcome variables that will also investigated include: VAS pain score in the post anesthesia recovery unit and post-operative day 1, time to onset of sensory block, duration of nerve blockade, block performance time, patient satisfaction score, perioperative opioid use, perioperative analgesic consumption, incidence of paresthesias, number of needle passes, incidence of post-operative nausea, vomiting, constipation, and any other complications.

Recruitment information / eligibility

• Status: Completed
• Enrollment: 108
• Est. completion date: March 20, 2022
• Est. primary completion date: March 20, 2022
• Accepts healthy volunteers: No
• Gender: All
• Age group: 18 Years and older

Eligibility

Inclusion Criteria:

• American Society of Anesthesia I-III classification,

• Scheduled for arthroscopic knee surgery (meniscal debridement/repair, ACL reconstruction)

Exclusion Criteria:

• Age younger than 18 years

• Non-English speaking

• Any contraindication for regional anesthesia, such as allergy to local anesthetics or opioids, -Coagulopaty or severe thrombocytopenia

• Infection at puncture sites

• Pre-existing neuropathy in operative limb

• Need for post-operative nerve function monitoring

• Dementia

• Patient refusal

• High pre-operative opioid requirements

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• Anterior Cruciate Ligament Injuries
• Anterior Cruciate Ligament Tear
• Knee Meniscus Tear

Intervention

Procedure:
• Femoral Nerve Block
Patients having ACL reconstruction, meniscus surgery and knee arthroscopy
• Adductor Canal Nerve Block
Patients having ACL reconstruction, meniscus surgery and knee arthroscopy

Drug:
• preoperative Femoral Nerve Block using 20ml of 0.5% ropivacaine

• Preoperative Adductor canal block with 0.75%% ropivacaine 13.3ml.

Locations

Country	Name	City	State
United States	UCSF Orthopedic Trauma Service	San Francisco	California

Sponsors (1)

Lead Sponsor	Collaborator
University of California, San Francisco

Country where clinical trial is conducted

United States, 

Outcome

Type	Measure	Description	Time frame	Safety issue
Primary	Change in quadriceps strength related to the nerve block	Quadriceps strength will be tested with a dynamometer before the nerve block and 20 minutes after the nerve block prior to surgery. We are trying to measure the effect of both femoral and adductor canal nerve blocks on quadriceps strength.	Baseline and 20 minutes after the block prior to surgery
Secondary	Numerical Pain score from 0-10	As this is an outpatient surgery, we will collect Numerical Pain Scores from the recovery room medical record after surgery as well as from the patients for the first 24 hours after surgery by contacting them at home the following day. We will evaluate the difference in patient pain scores between the two nerve blocks under study	up to 24 hours
Secondary	Duration of nerve block	Patients will be contacted after surgery to determine when the nerve block wore off based on their increase in pain	8 to 24 hours
Secondary	Opioid Consumption reported at mg of morphine equivalence	Data on the amount of pain medication consumed for the 1st 24 hours after surgery will be collected based on medications that were administered during surgery, in the recovery room and medications that patients took at home after discharge from the recovery room. All pain medications will be converted to morphine equivalence in milligrams and reported that way. The comparison will be the difference in mg morphine equivalence consumption between the two nerve block groups.	2 days