LIA vs. LIA + ACB-iPACK Block for Total Knee Arthroplasty

Women's College Hospital

Status: Begins enrollment in 2 months

Conditions: Nerve Block; Neuromuscular Blockade

Treatments: Procedure: Local infiltration analgesia; Procedure: Ultrasound-guided adductor canal block

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT04808947

LIA vs. LIA + ACB-iPACK block

Details and patient eligibility

About

LIA is the mainstay of postoperative analgesia in patients having knee arthroplasty. The combination of ACB-iPACK blocks has also been proposed as an effective analgesic modality for total knee arthroplasty. However, whether combining these two modalities yields any important incremental analgesic benefit remains unclear. The investigators hypothesized that the addition of ACB and iPACK blocks to LIA will yield clinically important analgesic benefits compared to LIA alone in patients having total knee arthroplasty.

Full description

LIA is the mainstay of postoperative analgesia in patients having knee arthroplasty. Performed by surgeons, LIA provides effective postoperative pain relief and reduces opioid requirements. Similar analgesic benefits have also been attributed to adductor canal and iPACK blocks, which partially block sensory innervation to the knee and its posterior capsule. Performed by anesthesiologist preoperatively, these blocks have also been incorporated into the care standard in numerous centers. However, it is not clear whether adding the adductor canal and iPACK blocks yields any incremental analgesic benefits. The investigators aimed to evaluate the benefits of adding adductor canal and iPACK blocks to LIA in patients having total knee arthroplasty.

Enrollment: 60 estimated patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18 to 85 years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

1. ASA classification I-III
2. BMI < 35 kg/m2
3. Having elective unilateral total knee arthroplasty

Exclusion criteria

1. Bilateral knee surgery.
2. Pre-existing neurological deficit or peripheral neuropathy in the lower the lower limbs
3. Severe, poorly controlled cardiac conditions, significant arrhythmias, severe valvular heart diseases
4. Severe, poorly controlled respiratory conditions (severe COPD, severe interstitial lung disease, severe / poorly controlled asthma)
5. Contraindication to regional anesthesia (e.g. bleeding diathesis, coagulopathy, sepsis, infection at the site of potential needle puncture on the posterior chest)
6. Patient refusal
7. Chronic pain disorder
8. Chronic opioid use (≥30 mg oxycodone / day)
9. Contraindication (or allergy) to a component of multi-modal analgesia protocol
10. Allergy to amide local anesthetics used in nerve blocks
11. Contraindications to spinal anesthesia
12. Significant psychiatric disorder that would preclude objective study assessment
13. Pregnancy
14. Inability to provide informed consent

Trial design

Primary purpose: Treatment

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: Triple Blind

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60 participants in 2 patient groups

Local infiltration analgesia

Experimental group

Description:

Patients in this group will receive LIA intraoperatively, as per institutional standard. The injected solution will be comprised of 100cc Ropiv 2%, + Ketorolac 30 mg + Epinephrine 25 ug.

Treatment:

Procedure: Local infiltration analgesia

Local infiltration analgesia + ACB-iPACK block

Active Comparator group

Description:

Patients in this group will receive LIA intraoperatively, as per institutional standard. The injected solution will be comprised of 100cc Ropiv 2%, + Ketorolac 30 mg + Epinephrine 25 ug. Patients in this group will also receive preoperative nerve blocks under ultrasound guidance. These will include: 1. Adductor canal block with 0.5% Ropivacaine w/epi 20 mL 2. iPack block with 0.25% Ropivacaine w/epi 10 mL

Treatment:

Procedure: Ultrasound-guided adductor canal block

Procedure: Local infiltration analgesia