Comparative study for evaluating efficacy of fascia iliaca compartment block for alleviating pain of positioning for spinal anesthesia in patients with hip and proximal femur fractures

Background: Patient positioning for performing spinal blockade causes severe pain in hip and femur fracture. Adequate pain relief before administrating spinal blockade will increase patient's cooperation. This study was done to assess analgesic effect of fascia iliaca compartment block (FICB) for positioning for spinal anesthesia. Materials and Methods: This was a randomized, double blind, controlled prospective study that included 100 patients of the American Society of Anesthesiologists physical statuses I to III, of either sex, between 30 and 90 years, posted for hip or proximal femoral surgery, with visual analogue scale (VAS) >3 in preoperative period. The two groups were assigned randomly. In Group 1, FICB was given half an hour before shifting the patients in operation theater with 30 ml of 0.25% ropivacaine, and in Group 2, sham block was given with 30 ml normal saline. Each group included 50 patients. Thirty minutes after FICB, spinal anesthesia was given and patients' vitals were monitored before and after block, at the time of positioning for spinal anesthesia, intraoperative and postoperative periods. Results: In Group 1, mean VAS before FICB was 8.02 which reduced to 2.28, which is statistically significant (P = 7.8813E-50), whereas in Group 2, mean VAS before sham block was 7.98 which reduced to 7.90, which is statistically nonsignificant (P = 0.6694). Mean total duration of analgesia in Group 1 was 428.3 min after spinal anesthesia, whereas in Group 2, mean total duration of analgesia was 240.1 min. Conclusion: FICB effectively provides analgesia for positioning for spinal anesthesia to patients in hip and proximal femur surgeries. It also provides analgesia in postoperative period without having significant alteration in the hemodynamic profile of patients