Opioid Use in Single Shot Nerve Block vs Continuous Peripheral Nerve Infusion in Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) Repair

Phase 3

Terminated

Conditions: Injury of Anterior Cruciate Ligament

Interventions: Device: continuous perineural infusion catheter
Drug: bupivacaine

Registration Number: NCT02075411

Lead Sponsor: Children's Hospital of Philadelphia

Brief Summary: Anterior cruciate ligament repair using hamstring autograft in children is a painful orthopedic procedure. The current practice to provide analgesia for this procedure include femoral continuous perineural infusion and femoral single shot peripheral nerve block, along with perioperative opioids and NSAIDS both IV and orally. Since the use of opioids can be associated with adverse side effects, which include, but are not limited to nausea, vomiting, constipation, pruritus and respiratory depression, comparing the amount of opioid used with either analgesia delivery method is needed.

Detailed Description: The trial design is a prospective, randomized, open-label controlled, study. It is not possible to blind the treatment since a catheter must be left in place for the continuous infusion group.

Subjects will be randomized to either the femoral shot/continuous peripheral neural infusion FS-CPNI group or femoral shot/sciatic single shot FS-SS group. After induction of general anesthesia, subjects will receive either a single shot or continuous nerve block. The protocol will not dictate the conduct of the general anesthetic.

In the postoperative period, in addition to the standard monitoring in the recovery room, the numerical rating pain scale(NRS) scores of the patient will be recorded. The timing of the first rescue pain medication and total postoperative opioid and other analgesic medication administered during the hospital stay will be recorded. The patients will be followed in the hospital on the day of surgery (DOS) postoperatively until they are discharged home.

After discharge the patients will be contacted by phone and/or email postoperatively on a daily basis for 72 hours to collect information regarding their use of pain medications (timing and dose), quality of analgesia based on the NRS pain scale, and incidence of side effects. If patients need to be admitted to the hospital postoperatively, their opioid use, pain scores and complications will be recorded while in the hospital.

All the patients will be evaluated in the orthopedic clinic at two weeks, six weeks and six months to assess long term functional outcomes, pain scores and any signs of postoperative neurological deficits.

Recruitment & Eligibility

Status: TERMINATED

Sex: All

Target Recruitment: 1

Inclusion Criteria

American Society of Anesthesiology (ASA) physical status 1 or 2
Male or female subjects ages 14 to 18 years old at time of procedure
Patients who undergo an ACL repair using the hamstring autograft at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
Parental/guardian permission (informed consent) and if appropriate, child assent

Exclusion Criteria

Parents/patients refusal to the placement of a femoral and/or sciatic nerve block
Contraindications to femoral and/or sciatic nerve block:
1. Infection
2. Neurologic deficits, including motor and/or sensory deficit of the femoral and sciatic nerves.
Patients' inability to participate in pain scoring because of developmental delay.
Performance of an all-epiphyseal ACL repair.
Allergy to any of the medications used in the study.
Presence of a coagulopathy

Study & Design

Study Type: INTERVENTIONAL

Study Design: PARALLEL

Arm && Interventions

Group	Intervention	Description
Males Continuous peripheral neural infusion	continuous perineural infusion catheter	The placement of a femoral continuous peripheral nerve infusion catheter (CPNI) and 0.25% bupivacaine (0.5 ml/kg, max 20 ml) will be injected under ultrasound guidance.
Females Continuous peripheral neural infusion	continuous perineural infusion catheter	The placement of a femoral continuous peripheral nerve infusion catheter (CPNI) and 0.25% bupivacaine (0.5 ml/kg, max 20 ml) will be injected under ultrasound guidance.
Males Single shot peripheral nerve block	bupivacaine	a single injection peripheral nerve block (FS/SS) of the femoral and sciatic nerves, Femoral Block - 0.25% bupivacaine (0.5 ml/kg, max 40 ml). The sciatic block will be performed using 0.125% bupivacaine (0.5 ml/kg, max 20 ml).
Females Single shot peripheral nerve block	bupivacaine	a single injection peripheral nerve block (FS/SS) of the femoral and sciatic nerves, Femoral Block - 0.25% bupivacaine (0.5 ml/kg, max 40 ml). The sciatic block will be performed using 0.125% bupivacaine (0.5 ml/kg, max 20 ml).

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Opioid Pain Medication	72 hours post-operatively	total postoperative opioid pain medication used during the first 72 hours after the procedure

Secondary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Duration of Analgesia in the Single Injection Nerve Block and the Continuous Peripheral Neural Infusion Group	72 hours post-operatively	Determine the duration of analgesia in the 2 groups. Analgesic duration will be the time interval between the end of the operation and the time of first administration of opioid for pain relief