Regional Anesthesia in Ambulatory Endovenous Ablation Surgery

Regional Anesthesia in Ambulatory Endovenous Ablation Surgery: Comparison of Postoperative Effects of Femoral Block and Low-Dose Spinal Anesthesia

Varicose veins represent irreversible, abnormal dilatations of the venous structures. They manifest as tortuous, swollen vessels visible beneath the skin of the lower extremities, particularly the feet and legs. Symptoms typically worsen with prolonged standing or sitting. In the early stages, conservative management options-such as the use of compression (elastic) stockings and frequent elevation of the legs-may be effective. In more advanced cases involving extensive varicosities, invasive interventions including sclerotherapy or endovascular ablation may be indicated. These procedures can be performed under local, regional, or general anesthesia.

Spinal anesthesia is a neuraxial technique that produces temporary sensory, motor, and sympathetic blockade through the subarachnoid administration of local anesthetics, with or without adjuvant agents. Clinically, it is commonly employed for surgeries involving the lower extremities, lower abdomen, perineal, gluteal, inguinal, and rectal regions, as well as select urologic and obstetric procedures.

A femoral nerve block is a regional anesthesia technique that involves ultrasound-guided injection of local anesthetic around the femoral nerve in the inguinal region. It provides effective analgesia for the anterior thigh, knee joint, and medial aspect of the lower leg. In endovenous laser ablation (EVLA), a femoral block can offer adequate sensory blockade to serve as a sole anesthetic technique.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Spinal Anesthesia; Ambulatory Surgery; Femoral Nerve Block; Discharge Time
• Intervention / Treatment: Procedure: Femoral nerve block; Procedure: Spinal anesthesia

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 40
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• Turkey (Türkiye)
  • Ankara
    • Etimesgut, Ankara, Turkey (Türkiye), 06170
      • İbrahim Topcu

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Adult; Older Adult
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Patients aged 18-80 years
• American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) score I-II
• Body Mass Index (BMI) between 18-30 kg/m2

Exclusion Criteria:

• Patients under 18 and over 80 years of age
• ASA score III and above
• BMI below 18 or above 30 kg/m2

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Treatment
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: Triple

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Active Comparator: Femoral Nerve Block	Procedure: Femoral nerve block; After monitoring, the patient is in the supine position and the femoral area on the side to be treated is sterilized. A femoral nerve block is then performed using 20 cc of 1% lidocaine using an ultrasound-guided blocking needle.
Active Comparator: Spinal anesthesia	Procedure: Spinal anesthesia; After monitoring, patients will be placed in the lateral decubitus position. Following appropriate field sterilization, patients will receive unilateral spinal anesthesia with 6 mg bupivacaine. Five minutes after spinal anesthesia, patients will be placed in the supine position.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Discharge time	The time (minutes) from the application of spinal anesthesia or femoral nerve block to the patients' discharge will be recorded as the discharge period	On the operation day

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Motor block disappearing time	Time (minutes) to disappearance of complete motor block in the lower extremity	On the operation day
Sensorial block disappearing time	Time (minutes) to disappearance of sensorial block in the lower extremity	On the operation day

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Ankara Etlik City Hospital

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): December 25, 2025
• Primary Completion (Actual): April 2, 2026
• Study Completion (Actual): April 8, 2026

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: December 9, 2025
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: December 9, 2025
• First Posted (Actual): December 22, 2025

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): April 13, 2026
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: April 8, 2026
• Last Verified: April 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Ambulatory surgery; Spinal Anesthesia; Femoral nerve block; Endovenous laser ablation; Discharge Time
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Anesthesia and Analgesia; Anesthesia, Conduction; Anesthesia; Anesthesia, Spinal
• Other Study ID Numbers: AEŞH-EK-2025-266

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No