Fascia Iliaca Compartment Blockade for Acute Pain Control in Hip Fracture Patients

Abstract

HIP fracture patients are in severe pain upon arrival at the emergency department (ED).1 Pain treatment is traditionally based on systemic opioids,2 which have a large potential for side effects in these frail and elderly patients.3 Blockade of the lumbar plexus has been proposed as an alternative method of acute pain control, and femoral nerve block has been evaluated in some descriptive series and a few randomized studies.4–7 None of the studies have compared regional blockade of the plexus with a standardized systemic analgesic regimen where other analgesics have not yet been administered. Furthermore, no studies have used a double-blind setup. Also, no study has examined the effect of fascia iliaca compartment blockade (FICB) in acute hip fracture pain management.