Prospective Study of Liposomal Bupivacaine for Pain Control of Split Thickness Skin Graft Donor Sites

The first phase of the study was a randomized controlled study. In the second phase, all subjects will receive fascia iliaca, lateral femoral cutaneous, or femoral nerve blocks based on the proposed donor site location and will be compared to historic controls from the first phase. In the first phase, the control group underwent split thickness autografting using the standard protocol, involving injection of lidocaine with epinephrine at the donor site. In the first phase, the experimental group underwent injection of liposomal bupivacaine (Exparel) at the time of harvest of the skin graft. In the second phase, patients will undergo preoperative regional anesthesia with a fascia iliaca, lateral femoral cutaneous, or femoral nerve block based on the proposed donor site location rather than the standard protocol of lidocaine with epinephrine at the donor site. Thus, in the second phase, group 3 (preoperative block group) will be compared to historic controls which received the standard of care in the first phase of this trial. Baseline pain levels will be obtained for all subjects using a validated pain assessment scale, the Visual Analog Pain Scale. Postoperatively, time to first opioid pain medication (excluding immediate postoperative recovery from anesthesia), total opioid consumption on a daily basis, and donor site interval pain scores using a validated pain assessment scale will be obtained. The experimental groups will then be individually compared to the control group to determine if there is a significant difference in pain levels, time to first opioid, and overall opioid consumption between the groups.