Effectiveness of a Femoral Block Following Total Knee Arthroplasty (TKA)

August 2, 2016 updated by: Tsui, Ban / Johnston DWC, Edmonton Civic Employees Research Fund

A Pilot Study of the Feasibility of Early Discharge After Total Knee Arthroplasty Using a Femoral Nerve Block

Hospital stays after total joint replacement surgery have been getting shorter over the past 10 years. This is mostly due to new ways to manage pain and early rehabilitation. To be able to go home safely soon after surgery, patients need to:

  • 1) have adequate pain control
  • 2) be able to move through activities of daily living on their own (using aids)

Femoral nerve block, in combination with pain medications, is one of the new treatment strategies that are currently being used at other hospitals in Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom. Nerve blocks involve a needle filled with local anesthetic into the nerve that allows the feeling of pain around the knee. With good pain management, patients will be able to more quickly bend their knee and regain the ability to walk with aids and move from sitting and lying positions to standing and walking. Once they can do these activities with adequate pain control, they can be discharged from hospital to continue recovery at home. The purpose of this study is to examine a new way of managing postoperative pain and encourage early knee flexion and mobility, while maintaining pain control for patients after total knee replacement. We believe that patients who receive the nerve block in addition to the regular pain medication will have more knee flexion at discharge and experience less pain than patients who only receive usual pain medications.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

20

Phase

  • Phase 4

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • Canada
    • Alberta
      • Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, T6G 2B7
        • University of Alberta Hospitals

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

  • Child
  • Adult
  • Older Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Undergoing primary total knee arthroplasty
  • English-speaking
  • Preoperative knee ROM > 90 degrees
  • Body Mass Index < 40

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Regular preoperative opioid use
  • Hepatic insufficiency
  • Any contra-indications to receiving a femoral block

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Treatment
  • Allocation: Non-Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
  • Masking: Single

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Femoral Block
Those receiving femoral block in addition to usual pain management
Procedure: Femoral Block
Those receiving femoral block postoperatively
Active Comparator: Usual Care
Those receiving only usual pain management without a femoral block
Other: Usual Care
Those receiving only usual pain management postoperatively

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Time Frame
knee flexion
Time Frame: at hospital discharge or day 4 postoperatively, whichever is earlier
at hospital discharge or day 4 postoperatively, whichever is earlier

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Time Frame
pain
Time Frame: daily in hospital, 2 weeks, 6 weeks, 12 weeks
daily in hospital, 2 weeks, 6 weeks, 12 weeks
length of hospital stay
Time Frame: during hospitalization
during hospitalization
nausea/vomiting
Time Frame: during hospitalization
during hospitalization
participation in rehabilitation
Time Frame: day of surgery
day of surgery

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Edmonton Civic Employees Research Fund

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start

April 1, 2008

Primary Completion (Actual)

October 1, 2009

Study Completion (Actual)

December 1, 2009

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

April 10, 2008

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

April 10, 2008

First Posted (Estimate)

April 16, 2008

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Estimate)

August 3, 2016

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

August 2, 2016

Last Verified

August 1, 2016

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Other Study ID Numbers

  • J-3224

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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