The Influence of the Femoral Nerve Block on Quadriceps Strength

Hopital de l'Enfant-Jesus

Status: Completed

Conditions: Total Knee Arthroplasty

Treatments: Drug: Patient controlled analgesics; Drug: 48-hour ropivacaine infusions; Drug: Single dose ropivacaine

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other; Industry

Identifiers

NCT01111513

PEJ-413

Details and patient eligibility

About

Total knee replacement is a frequent procedure in Québec's hospitals and the muscular strength of the quadriceps is the best indicator of the patient's functional recovery post surgery. Thus, the importance of the patient's recovery leads to the evaluation of the influence of the femoral nerve block on the muscle strength.

The purpose of the study is to compare the short term and long term recuperation of the quadriceps' motor strength of after a total knee arthroplasty using different types of analgesics such as the continuous femoral nerve block, the single dose femoral nerve block and the systemic analgesic, a patient controlled analgesic pump.

Enrollment: 135 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18+ years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• > 18 years old
• men or women needing an elective total knee replacement surgery

Exclusion criteria

• unicompartmental arthroplasty
• revision surgery for knee arthroplasty
• previous surgery on same knee
• previous fracture of femur/patella with functional after-effects
• allergies or contraindication to any medication used during study or to local anaesthesia technique
• preexisting neurological deficit
• severe anomaly of intracardiac conduction
• previous vascular surgery near the site of introduction of the catheter
• pregnancy or breastfeeding
• ASA IV or V14 class
• Men or women > 18 years old unfit to consent
• < 18 years old
• Refusal to sign consent form

Trial design

Primary purpose: Treatment

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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135 participants in 3 patient groups

Continuous femoral block

Active Comparator group

Description:

Patients receive a continuous femoral block for 48 hours and they have patient controlled analgesics.

Treatment:

Drug: 48-hour ropivacaine infusions

Single dose femoral block

Active Comparator group

Description:

Patients receive a single dose femoral block and have patient controlled analgesics.

Treatment:

Drug: Single dose ropivacaine

Patient controlled analgesics

Active Comparator group

Description:

Patients do not receive a femoral block. They only have patient controlled analgesics.

Treatment:

Drug: Patient controlled analgesics