ClinicalTrials.gg
CompletedNCT03427385Updated Feb 12, 2018

Minimum Local Anesthetic Dose for Adductor Canal Block

An interventional study of Ropivacaine 0.5% in Neuromuscular Blockade, sponsored by University Health Network, Toronto. Completed at 1 site in Canada. Open to participants aged 18 Years to 85 Years. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2018-02-12.

Sponsored by University Health Network, Toronto · Not applicable, Interventional, and Other

From the registry’s dates

  • Registered 5 years 4 months after the study started (first participant enrolled Sep 2012, registered Jan 2018).
Phase
Not applicable
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
60
Allocation
Not applicable
Ages
18 Years to 85 Years
Sex
All
01

Study summary

The purpose of this study is to determine the minimum dose of ropivacaine 0.5%, required to produce pain relief without weakening the leg muscles.

Read the detailed description

The post-operative period after a Total Knee Arthroplasty (TKA) is known to be especially painful for the first 24 hours. Significant pain can persist up to 3 days in some cases. Successful management of pain post TKA is therefore regarded as essential to early recovery, rehabilitation and timely discharge.

Until now, multiple modes of analgesia have been employed including intravenous patient-controlled analgesia, continuous femoral nerve block and epidural analgesia. These are all effective alternatives but each is limited by side effects. Epidural analgesia provides excellent pain control and has been associated with early rehabilitation despite its negative impact on ambulation in the immediate peri-operative period. Additionally, an increased risk of spinal hematoma has been reported with epidural analgesia and peri-operative low molecular weight heparin prophylaxis. For this reason, epidural analgesia is not routinely offered to patients undergoing TKA today.

A multimodal analgesic approach centered on the use of continuous femoral nerve blocks has been more recently favoured, providing superior analgesia and less opioid-related side effects than a systemic opioid-based regimen. However, femoral nerve blockade is also associated with significant quadriceps muscle weakness, which can impair ambulation, delay physiotherapy and result in accidental fall.

Recent reports suggest that saphenous nerve blockade using an adductor canal approach is a novel technique with which to provide adequate analgesia for major knee surgery. Ultrasound-guided saphenous nerve block in the adductor canal is considered a technically simple and reliable block, providing consistent success. Although traditionally used to provide anesthesia and analgesia to the foot and ankle, recent reports suggest that saphenous nerve blockade in the adductor canal may provide adequate analgesia for major knee surgery. Taking into consideration the anatomy of the adductor canal, it appears possible to target not only the saphenous nerve but also multiple branches of the femoral and obturator nerve.

However, the optimal dose of local anesthetic required to establish knee analgesia without inducing quadriceps weakness has not yet been determined. Identifying an optimal dose would allow for maximum analgesic efficacy with minimal or no motor block, while minimizing other unwanted adverse effects.

This pilot study is designed to determine the optimal dose of ropivacaine 0.5% required to initiate sensory knee analgesia for the post-operative.

02

Conditions studied

  • Neuromuscular Blockade

Keywords

  • Neuromuscular blockade
03

In context

Lead sponsor

University Health Network, Toronto is the lead sponsor of 1,438 studies on the registry; 297 are open to participants now.

Of its 17 completed or terminated interventional studies of FDA-regulated products, 3 (18%) have results posted.

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

04

Who can participate

Ages eligible
18 Years to 85 Years
Sexes eligible
All
Accepts healthy volunteers
No

Go through the criteria one by one — yes, no or not sure — and take the list to your doctor or the study team. Kept in this browser only.

Inclusion criteria

  • ASA()physical status classification system I-III
  • 18-85 years of age, inclusive
  • 18 - 40
  • Scheduled for elective total knee replacement under spinal anesthesia or general anesthesia.

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Inability or refusal to provide
  • Any to regional anesthesia (allergy to local anesthetics, bleeding diathesis, coagulopathy, or infection at the site of block)
Terms in these criteria, in plain language(5)

Underlined terms in the criteria open these too. Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.

ASA physical status

The anaesthetists’ scale of health before surgery: I is healthy, II has a mild illness that is under control, III a severe one, IV a severe illness that is a constant threat to life. V and VI are used for the critically ill and for organ donors.

BMI (body mass index)

Weight in kilograms divided by height in metres squared. Example: 70 kg and 1.75 m gives 70 ÷ (1.75 × 1.75) ≈ 22.9.

What counts as overweight or obesity differs between countries (some use lower cut-offs), so go by the range the study states.

Informed consent

Before you join, the study team explains what taking part involves — its purpose, what happens, the risks and possible benefits — and answers your questions, so you can decide freely. Consent is usually recorded on a form (the informed consent form, ICF) signed by you or, where the law allows, by someone legally authorised to decide for you.

You can keep asking questions during the study, you are told of new information that matters, and you can choose to leave at any time.

Contraindication

A reason a treatment, test or procedure should not be given to a particular person, such as an allergy, another illness or a medicine they take.

Cancer (malignancy)

Malignancy means cancer. Criteria about another or earlier malignancy ask whether you have had a different cancer, usually within a set number of years.

Some are commonly allowed, such as treated skin cancers other than melanoma and early cancers removed completely — check the exceptions this study lists.

05

Study design

Phase
Not applicable
Primary purpose
Other
Allocation
Not applicable
Intervention model
Single group
Masking
None (open label)
Enrollment
60 participants (actual)

Study arms

  • Experimental
    Minimum Effective dose

    Local anesthetic Ropivacaine 0.5% injection for adductor canal block

    Drug: Ropivacaine 0.5%

Interventions

  • The volume of local anesthetic Ropivacaine 0.5% will be determined by the response (success or failure of block, 30 minutes after local anesthetic injection) of the previous patient in that group. Block success is defined as an absence of ice sensation in the knee within 30 min of ropivacaine administration accompanied by tolerance to tetanic electrical stimulation (TES) at 60 mA(milliamp) for 5 seconds.

    Also known as: Naropin

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Tolerance to Transcutaneous Electrical Stimulation (TES)

    To determine the minimum effective dose of ropivacaine in the adductor canal block to initiate sensory analgesia in the knee. Complete sensory anesthesia in the knee following adductor canal block 30 minutes after ropivacaine administration.

    Time frame: 30 min after ropivacaine injection

Secondary outcomes

  1. The degree of motor block following ropivacaine administration

    Motor block will be assessed using an isometric force dynamometer

    Time frame: Assessments will start at baseline before ropivacaine injection and every 5 minutes after ropivacaine injection until 45 minutes have passed or until surgery commences, whichever comes first

  2. Cold sensation

    To determine the minimum effective dose of ropivacaine in the adductor canal block to initiate sensory analgesia in the knee. Complete sensory anesthesia in the knee following adductor canal block 30 minutes after ropivacaine administration.

    Time frame: 30 min after ropivacaine injection

Other outcomes

  1. Total opioid consumption

    Total opioid consumption during the intraoperative phase, post-operative care unit stay, and during the first 48 hours post-surgery

    Time frame: 48 hours

07

Study locations

1 site
  • Toronto Western Hospital
    Toronto, Ontario M5T 2S8, Canada
08

References and documents

Publications

  • Krombach J, Gray AT. Sonography for saphenous nerve block near the adductor canal. Reg Anesth Pain Med. 2007 Jul-Aug;32(4):369-70. doi: 10.1016/j.rapm.2007.04.006. No abstract available. Erratum In: Reg Anesth Pain Med. 2007 Nov-Dec;32(6):536. PubMed 17720129 ↗
  • Casati A, Baciarello M, Di Cianni S, Danelli G, De Marco G, Leone S, Rossi M, Fanelli G. Effects of ultrasound guidance on the minimum effective anaesthetic volume required to block the femoral nerve. Br J Anaesth. 2007 Jun;98(6):823-7. doi: 10.1093/bja/aem100. Epub 2007 May 3. PubMed 17478453 ↗
  • Danelli G, Ghisi D, Fanelli A, Ortu A, Moschini E, Berti M, Ziegler S, Fanelli G. The effects of ultrasound guidance and neurostimulation on the minimum effective anesthetic volume of mepivacaine 1.5% required to block the sciatic nerve using the subgluteal approach. Anesth Analg. 2009 Nov;109(5):1674-8. doi: 10.1213/ANE.0b013e3181b92372. PubMed 19843807 ↗
  • Davis JJ, Bond TS, Swenson JD. Adductor canal block: more than just the saphenous nerve? Reg Anesth Pain Med. 2009 Nov-Dec;34(6):618-9. doi: 10.1097/AAP.0b013e3181bfbf00. No abstract available. PubMed 19901788 ↗
  • Manickam B, Perlas A, Duggan E, Brull R, Chan VW, Ramlogan R. Feasibility and efficacy of ultrasound-guided block of the saphenous nerve in the adductor canal. Reg Anesth Pain Med. 2009 Nov-Dec;34(6):578-80. doi: 10.1097/aap.0b013e3181bfbf84. PubMed 19916251 ↗
09

Timeline

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
ElapsedEstimatedEstimated, not yet reached

Ran from Sep 2012 to primary completion in Aug 2014, 23 months.

How these figures are worked out, and which studies are left out of them.

Registered
Jan 26, 2018
First posted
Feb 9, 2018
StartActual
Sep 2012
Primary completionActual
Aug 5, 2014
CompletionActual
Aug 5, 2014
Last update
Feb 12, 2018
What these dates mean
Start.
When the first participant enrolled; while estimated, when the study expects to open to recruitment.
Primary completion.
When the last participant was examined or treated to collect data for the study's main question, its primary outcome. A study that stopped early gives the date its data collection stopped.
Completion.
When the last participant's last visit took place, for every outcome, secondary ones and side effects included: the end of the study. Often later than primary completion, sometimes the same day.
Actual and Est.
Actual means the registry says the date has happened. Est. (estimated) is a date the sponsor plans or expects. It can still move, and the sponsor is expected to change it to actual once it has passed.
No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on Feb 12, 2018, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
10

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT03427385
Responsible party
Sponsor
First posted
Feb 9, 2018
Start date
Sep 2012
Primary completion
Aug 5, 2014
Completion
Aug 5, 2014
Last update
Feb 12, 2018

Study contacts

Vincent WS Chan, MD
principal investigator · University Health Network, Toronto
Richard Brull, MD
study chair · University Health Network, Toronto
Ki Jinn Chin, MD
study chair · University Health Network, Toronto
Anahi Perlas, MD
study chair · University Health Network, Toronto

Oversight

Data monitoring committee
No
View the source record on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

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This study is completed, as verified in Feb 2018. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.

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Studies of the drug tested here: Ropivacaine

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