Prospective Femoral Versus Femoral and Sciatic Nerve Block for Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) Reconstruction

University of California San Francisco (UCSF)

Status: Completed

Conditions: Anterior Cruciate Ligament Tear

Treatments: Procedure: Femoral Block only; Procedure: Sciatic Block

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT01447277

11-06776

Details and patient eligibility

About

The investigators propose that a preoperative femoral and sciatic blocks vs a femoral block only, prior to ambulatory anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction will lead to a decrease in opiate consumption, pain scores, and post-anesthesia care unit (PACU) length of stay. The investigators are prospectively randomizing patients to either a femoral or a fem/sciatic block and monitor outcomes.

Full description

Although femoral nerve blocks improve analgesia after anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction, patients often complain of posterior knee pain, which can be treated with a sciatic nerve block. In a prospective randomized study, we compare preoperative femoral nerve block to a combined femoral and sciatic block in patients undergoing ambulatory ACL reconstruction. We hypothesize that the combined femoral/sciatic nerve block patients would have improved analgesia, fewer opioid-related side effects, and shorter PACU length of stay and improved patient satisfaction.

Enrollment: 68 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18+ years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Age 18 and over
• ASA status I-II
• Scheduled for ambulatory Arthroscopic ACL Surgery

Exclusion criteria

• Allergy to Local anesthetics or opiates used in the study
• Contraindications for regional anesthesia
• coagulopathy, anticoagulation, Thrombocytopenia
• infection at site of injection
• Chronic pain and high preoperative opiate requirements
• High risk for PONV

Trial design

Primary purpose: Treatment

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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68 participants in 2 patient groups

Femoral and Sciatic Block

Experimental group

Description:

Administration of preoperative femoral and sciatic nerve blocks

Treatment:

Procedure: Sciatic Block

Femoral Block Only

Other group

Description:

Administration of a femoral nerve block prior to surgery

Treatment:

Procedure: Femoral Block only