Peripheral Nerve Blocks vs Selective Spinal Anesthesia in Patients With Femur Fracture

Summary

Proximal Femur Fractures (PFF) represent one of the most common orthopedic injuries worldwide, affecting especially elderly patients with potentially disabling outcomes and a marked impairment of quality of life. Taking into account their inherent instability, PFF are usually treated surgically within the shortest possible delay in order to reduce the risk of major and minor complications, the length of hospitalization and related costs. In this setting, most retrospective and prospective studies have reported a similar 30-day mortality rate comparing Spinal Anesthesia (SA) and General Anesthesia (GA), often recommending an adjuvant Peripheral Nerve Block (PNBs) to control postoperative pain. There is consensus that anticoagulant therapy, lack of pharmacological optimization or other conditions may represent a contraindication to SA. In these cases, blocking the nerves responsible for innervation of the proximal femur (i.e., the femoral, lateral femoral-cutaneous, obturators and sciatic nerves) may be a useful option. This study will aim to compare the incidence of intraoperative and postoperative adverse events, as well as the analgesic efficacy of the PNBs compared to SSA in patients diagnosed with PFF who underwent intramedullary nailing as a method of fixation.

Timeline

Start

2023-12-31

Primary completion

2024-04-01

Completion

2024-06-15

Publications

• Coviello A, Cirillo D, Bernasconi A, de Siena AU, Spasari E, Barone MS, Piccione I, Ranieri G, Tognu A, Servillo G, Iacovazzo C. Peripheral nerve blocks vs selective spinal anesthesia in patients with femur fracture: a patient-, surgeon-, and assessor-blinded randomized controlled study. J Anesth Analg Crit Care. 2025 Dec 3;5(1):88. doi: 10.1186/s44158-025-00302-6.

Drugs

Indications

No indication recorded.