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TerminatedNCT02248870Updated Sep 14, 2015

Femoral Nerve Block With Bupivacaine and Adjuvant Dexamethasone in Patients With Hip Fracture

A Phase 4 interventional study of Dexamethasone and Saline in Hip Fracture, sponsored by University of Aarhus. Terminated at 1 site in Denmark. Open to participants aged 55 Years and older. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2015-09-14.

Sponsored by University of Aarhus · Phase 4, Interventional, and Treatment

Why this study was terminated
Less inclusions than expected with the given criteria
Phase
Phase 4
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
7
Allocation
Randomized
Ages
55 Years and older
Sex
All
01

Study summary

Prolongation of the analgesic effect of a femoral nerve block from the present 15 hours to 24 hours in patients with hip fracture would have a major impact in order to provide better preoperative analgesia for this group.

In other trials concerning other nerves then the femoral nerve the addition of Dexamethasone to the local anesthetics doubled the analgesic duration. No studies has investigated the effect of the addition of Dexamethasone to the femoral nerve block in patients with hip fracture.

The aim of our study is to investigate if more patients with hip fracture experience lasting preoperative analgesia until the time of operation or 20 hours after a femoral nerve block with the addition of Dexamethasone compared to the same nerve block done without Dexamethasone.

Read the detailed description

Patients with hip fractures are most often old, have multiple comorbidities and suffer severe pain.

Femoral nerve block as a means of preoperative analgesia for these patients has proven effective in multiple trials for the majority of the patients. Still some issues remains to be investigated in order to optimize the preoperative analgesia for this group.

One of the issues that reduces the feasibility of the femoral nerve block is the relatively shorter analgesic duration of the nerve block compared to the often longer time from the hospital admission to the actual operation. From the literature and our own experience the mean analgesic duration of a femoral nerve block approximates 15 hours.

Many studies have shown a prolonged analgesic duration of different nerve blocks when Dexamethasone was added to the local anesthetics. Some studies show a 100 percent increase in duration.

To our knowledge no studies have been published regarding prolongation of the analgesic effect of the femoral nerve block with Dexamethasone, and also none regarding the group of patients with hip fracture.

The clinical impact of a femoral nerve block with an analgesic duration of 20 hours compared to the present 15 hours would be less patients waking up in wards during the night time with pain and a terminated femoral nerve block.

The purpose of this study is to investigate if more patients with hip fracture experience a lasting preoperative analgesic duration of at least 20 hours or until the time of operation after a femoral nerve block with Bupivacaine with adrenaline and the addition of Dexamethasone compared to the same nerve block done with only Bupivacaine with adrenaline.

02

Conditions studied

  • Hip Fracture

Keywords

  • femoral neck
03

In context

Fractures, Bone

2,261 studies on the registry are indexed under Fractures, Bone; 325 are open to participants now.

This study's enrollment of 7 is below the median of 69 across 1,482 interventional studies indexed under Fractures, Bone.

Browse Fractures, Bone studies →

Lead sponsor

University of Aarhus is the lead sponsor of 1,274 studies on the registry; 183 are open to participants now.

Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.

04

Who can participate

Ages eligible
55 Years and older
Sexes eligible
All
Accepts healthy volunteers
No

Inclusion criteria

  • Clinical suspicion of hip fracture
  • Age ≥ 55 years
  • Mentally capable of comprehending and using verbal pain score
  • Mentally capable of differentiating between pain from the fractured hip and pain from other locations
  • Mentally capable of understanding the given information
  • Arrival in the emergency room at times when one of the doctors who do the nerve blocks for this investigation are on call
  • Verbal pain score (0-10) ≥ 7 with passive leg raise of the fractured leg at the time of inclusion
  • Patients informed consent

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Hip fracture not confirmed by x-ray
  • Weight \< 40 kg
  • Verbal pain score > 3, 30 minutes after the nerve block
  • Verbal pain score > 5 with passive leg raise, 30 minutes after the nerve block
  • Patient has previously been included in this trial
  • Ongoing pre traumatic treatment with parenteral or intravenous adrenocortical hormone
  • Verbal pain score > 3 from other locations than the fractured hip
  • If the patient wishes to be excluded
  • Allergy to local anesthetics or adrenocortical hormone
  • Visible infection in the area of the point of needle injection
  • Acute inability to comprehend and use verbal pain score
05

Study design

Phase
Phase 4
Primary purpose
Treatment
Allocation
Randomized
Intervention model
Parallel assignment
Masking
Quadruple (Participant, Care provider, Investigator, Outcomes assessor)
Enrollment
7 participants (actual)

Study arms

  • Placebo comparator
    Saline

    Bupivacaine with adrenaline with 2 ml. of Saline added

    Drug: Saline

  • Experimental
    Dexamethasone

    Bupivacaine with adrenaline with 2 ml. of Dexamethasone added

    Drug: Dexamethasone

Interventions

  • DrugDexamethasone

    Dexamethasone is added to Bupivacaine with Adrenaline for perineural injection

  • DrugSaline

    Saline is added as a placebo to Bupivacaine with adrenaline for perineural injection

    Also known as: Solution of sodium chloride

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Frequency of analgesia at the time of operation or at 20 hours

    Frequency of analgesia at the time of operation or at 20 hours in patients with hip fracture after femoral nerve block with Dexamethasone added to Bupivacaine compared to plain Bupivacaine

    Time frame: Until the start of the operation or at 20 hours, average 18 hours

Secondary outcomes

  1. Frequency of analgesia at the time of operation or at 22 hours

    Frequency of analgesia at the time of operation or at 22 hours in patients with hip fracture after femoral nerve block with Dexamethasone added to Bupivacaine compared to plain Bupivacaine

    Time frame: Until the start of the operation or at 22 hours, average 20 hours

  2. Frequency of analgesia at the time of operation or at 24 hours

    Frequency of analgesia at the time of operation or at 24 hours in patients with hip fracture after femoral nerve block with Dexamethasone added to Bupivacaine compared to plain Bupivacaine

    Time frame: Until the start of the operation or at 24 hours, average 22 hours

  3. Frequency of satisfactory analgesia

    Frequency of patients with satisfactory analgesia i the period from the nerve block until the time of operation or at 20 hours compared between the groups

    Time frame: Until the start of the operation or at 20 hours, average 18 hours

  4. Time to wish for opioid analgesia

    Mean time fra nerve block to wish for opioid analgesia compared between groups

    Time frame: Until the start of the operation or at 24 hours, average 22 hours

  5. Use of opioid analgesia until 20 hours

    Mean use of opioid analgesia until the time of operation or at 20 hours compared between groups

    Time frame: Until the start of the operation or at 20 hours, average 18 hours

  6. Use of opioid analgesia until 22 hours

    Mean use of opioid analgesia until the time of operation or at 22 hours compared between groups

    Time frame: Until the start of the operation or at 22 hours, average 20 hours

  7. Use of opioid analgesia until 24 hours

    Mean use of opioid analgesia until the time of operation or at 24 hours compared between groups

    Time frame: Until the start of the operation or at 24 hours, average 22 hours

  8. Time to analgesic effect with patient at rest

    Mean time from nerve block to verbal pain score ≤3 at rest

    Time frame: 30 minutes

  9. Time to analgesic effect measured while doing passive leg raise

    Mean time from nerve block to verbal pain score ≤5 while doing passive leg raise

    Time frame: 30 minutes

  10. Frequency of insufficient analgesia

    Frequency of patients with hip fracture with insufficient analgesia after femoral nerve block at 30 minutes

    Time frame: 30 minutes

  11. Frequency of absent analgesia

    Frequency of patients with hip fracture with absent analgesia after femoral nerve block at 30 minutes

    Time frame: 30 minutes

  12. Frequency of patients without sufficient analgesia

    Frequency of patients with hip fracture without sufficient analgesia after femoral nerve block at 30 minutes

    Time frame: 30 minutes

  13. Skin sensation in saphenous area

    Frequency of reduced cold sensation in the skin area innervated by the saphenous nerve when sufficient analgesia versus insufficient analgesia of the fractured hip is experienced 30 minutes after the femoral nerve block

    Time frame: 30 minutes

  14. Skin sensation in area of the anterior cutaneous branches of the femoral nerve

    Frequency of reduced cold sensation in the skin area innervated by the anterior cutaneous branches of the femoral nerve when sufficient analgesia versus insufficient analgesia of the fractured hip is experienced 30 minutes after the femoral nerve block

    Time frame: 30 minutes

  15. Sufficient analgesia Dexamethasone vs. plain

    Success rate of sufficient analgesia after femoral nerve block with Dexamethasone added to Bupivacaine compared to plain bupivacaine

    Time frame: 30 minutes

  16. Nerve visualization

    Frequency of possible ultrasound visualization of the femoral nerve

    Time frame: Just before injection, which is within an expected average of 10 minutes after inclusion

07

Study locations

1 site
  • Aarhus University Hospital
    Aarhus, 8000, Denmark
08

References and documents

Publications

  • Guay J, Kopp S. Peripheral nerve blocks for hip fractures in adults. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2020 Nov 25;11(11):CD001159. doi: 10.1002/14651858.CD001159.pub3. PubMed 33238043 ↗
09

Updates

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on Sep 14, 2015, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
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Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT02248870
Lead sponsor
University of Aarhus
Responsible party
Sponsor
First posted
Sep 25, 2014
Start date
Mar 2015
Primary completion
Sep 2015
Completion
Sep 2015
Last update
Sep 14, 2015

Study contacts

Thomas F. Bendtsen, MD, Ph.d.
study director · Aarhus University Hospital

Oversight

Data monitoring committee
Yes
View the source record on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

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