The Lateral, Anterior, Medial (LAM) Femoral Cutaneous Block: A Case Series Harborview Medical Center, Seattle, WA

University of Washington

Status: Enrolling

Conditions: Skin Grafting; Burn; Regional Anesthesia

Study type: Observational

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT07221903

STUDY00023101

Details and patient eligibility

About

Skin donor sites in patients undergoing split-thickness skin grafting surgeries can be very painful postoperatively. This site is most often the anterolateral thigh, the pain at which location can traditionally be covered by a fascia iliaca nerve block, although that comes with the disadvantage of losing motor functions in the femoral nerve distribution. The LAM nerve block, which is relatively new, aims to provide analgesia in the distribution of the lateral and anterior femoral cutaneous nerves. In short, this nerve block would decrease the sensation of the anterolateral thigh area without affecting the motor function of the leg. Investigators aim to study the consistency and coverage size of sensation changes by mapping out the area after the block in each patient.

Enrollment: 10 estimated patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18+ years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion and exclusion criteria

Inclusion Criteria:

1. 18 years or older

2. Scheduled surgery for STSG w/ donor site coming from thigh

3. Care team requests LAM nerve block

4. Anticipated postop pain in the cutaneous areas of anterior and lateral thigh

   Exclusion Criteria:

5. Inability to communicate sensation or motor changes in their body

6. Preexisting sensory or motor deficits in the femoral nerve distribution

7. Contraindication to the medication used or a peripheral nerve block, such as allergy to amide local anesthetics, severe liver dysfunction, injection site infection etc

8. Pregnancy

9. Prisoners

10. Non-English Speaking/reading

11. Surgeries with anticipated or actual duration of 6 hours or longer

12. TBSA 20% or greater

13. Severe distracting injuries/polytrauma (e.g., large or significant bone fractures)