Pre-emptive Sciatic Bloc to Prevent Lower Limb Phantom Pain

Université de Sherbrooke

Status and phase: Completed; Phase 4

Conditions: Phantom Limb Pain

Treatments: Procedure: sciatic nerve block

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT00528463

edm1

Details and patient eligibility

About

Phantom limb pain is a complication of amputation. Although pre-empitve epidural analgesia was once thought to prevent such a com plication, recent studies did not demonstrate this. Peripheral blocks are more powerful then epidurals, and can even influence somatotropic representation in the brain. This a prospective case series in which the investigators hope to show a decrease, against historical control, of the incidence of post-operative amputation lower limb phantom pain. The investigators established the block at least 24 hours pre-operative and continue it for at least 2 days. Patient are followed daily for the 1st 3 days and then up to 3 month for the incidence of phantom limb pain. The investigators hope to recruit 30 patients.

Enrollment: 17 patients

Sex: All

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Patient scheduled for lower limb amputation

Exclusion criteria

• Inability to consent
• Contraindication to peripheral nerve block
• Inability to perform the block
• Inadequate time frame (less than 24 hours prior to surgery)

Trial design

Primary purpose: Prevention

Allocation: N/A

Interventional model: Single Group Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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17 participants in 1 patient group

sciatic block

Experimental group

Description:

One arm, all patient studied received a block

Treatment:

Procedure: sciatic nerve block