Description

Hip fracture in the elderly is an increasingly common problem worldwide. Nearly all patients with a hip fracture undergo surgery. Patients with hip fractures often have significant pain, particularly with movement, and surgical fixation is associated with significant pain.

The treatment of pain with the use of a multimodal analgesic regimen is a major priority for elderly patients with hip fractures. These patients are often frail and have multiple medical comorbidities. Hence the use of non-steroidal anti-inflammatories drugs and systemic opioids may be contraindicated or complicated by adverse effects. Regional anesthesia techniques including femoral nerve blocks (FNB) and fascia iliaca compartment blocks (FICB) are frequently utilized as part of multimodal analgesia due to their relative lack of side-effects. Femoral nerve blockade and suprainguinal fascia iliaca (SiFi) blockade have been described for this indication. Several studies have investigated the analgesic efficacy of the SiFi block after total hip arthroplasty. However, randomized controlled trials on the analgesic efficacy of the SiFi block for pain after hip fracture surgery are not plentiful and subject to methodological concerns.

Objectives

The primary objective is to test the hypothesis that in patients undergoing hip fracture surgery, suprainguinal fascia iliaca block is associated with improved pain scores and a reduction in opioid utilization when compared with femoral nerve block. Secondary objectives will be to compare time to mobilization, time to readiness for discharge and complications associated with both nerve block techniques.