Difficulties recruiting participants

The goal of this clinical trial is to compare two commonly used local/regional anesthesia techniques in adults patients undergoing hip fracture surgery. The main question[s] it aims to answer are: • the impact of both interventions on patient level of pain. • impact on postoperative analgesics administered Participants will be randomly assigned to one of two local/regional anesthesia techniques, either femoral nerve block (FNB) or suprainguinal fascia iliaca block (SiFi). Both techniques are the usual practice at the hospital, and we are NOT aiming to experiment on new anesthesia technique in this study.

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.

Inclusion Criteria:

• Age 18 or greater
• Having hip fracture surgery at the University of Alberta Hospital
• Suitable for multimodal analgesia including a peripheral nerve block

Exclusion Criteria:

• Contraindication to a nerve block technique
• Refuses consent for a nerve block technique

No plan to make the individual participants data available to other researchers was made

Randomization will be conducted through blocked randomization with blocks of 4 according to a schedule not known to the investigators using a computerized algorithm. The attending surgeon, anesthetist, and nursing team will be blinded to the randomization assignment.