---
title: Effect of the Early Ultrasound-guided Femoral Nerve Block Performed by Emergency Physicians on Pre-operative Opioids Usage in Patients With Proximal Femoral Fractures
nct_id: NCT05515718
overall_status: COMPLETED
phase: NA
sponsor: Fondation Hôpital Saint-Joseph
study_type: INTERVENTIONAL
primary_condition: Femoral Fracture
countries: France
canonical_url: "https://parkinsonspathways.com/agent/trials/NCT05515718.md"
clinicaltrials_gov: "https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT05515718"
ct_last_update_post_date: 2023-12-06
last_seen_at: "2026-05-12T06:53:01.785Z"
source: ClinicalTrials.gov (mirrored, no enrichment)
---
# Effect of the Early Ultrasound-guided Femoral Nerve Block Performed by Emergency Physicians on Pre-operative Opioids Usage in Patients With Proximal Femoral Fractures

**Official Title:** Effect of the Early Ultrasound-guided Femoral Nerve Block Performed by Emergency Physicians on Pre-operative Opioids Usage in Patients With Proximal Femoral Fractures: a Randomized Controlled Trial

**NCT ID:** [NCT05515718](https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT05515718)

## Key Facts

- **Status:** COMPLETED
- **Phase:** NA
- **Study Type:** INTERVENTIONAL
- **Target Enrollment:** 35
- **Lead Sponsor:** Fondation Hôpital Saint-Joseph
- **Conditions:** Femoral Fracture, Femoral Nerve Block
- **Start Date:** 2022-09-07
- **Completion Date:** 2022-12-31
- **CT.gov Last Update:** 2023-12-06

## Brief Summary

In France, approximately 80,000 patients with a fracture of the upper extremity of the femur (femoral neck or trochanter) are admitted in the emergency department. This is a serious disease with a one-year mortality rate of 29% (i.e., 1 of 5 women and 1 of 3 men), and significant consequences on quality of life and autonomy. The morbidity of these fractures is closely related to the occurrence of altered mental status or delirium, before and after surgery. The diagnosis is based on clinical features and x-rays of the hip. These fractures are associated with severe level of pain, before and after the surgery. For emergency physicians, managing appropriately the pain is a common problem at the admission in the emergency room. Proper pain management is essential to ensure patients' comfort before surgery, but also to ensure their return to their previous functional and cognitive state after surgery. For patients, the goal of treatment is to regain walking as quickly as possible, while minimizing surgical and medical complications. However, severe pain induced by the fracture may lead to an acute altered mental status or delirium. In France, the latest guidelines about analgesia in emergency medicine reported that local anesthesia and loco-regional anesthesia (LRA) are useful and should be promoted in emergency medicine. In 2010, these guidelines proposed to perform LRA techniques such as iliofascial block more widely available. In 2016, the largest review of the literature on the use of regional nerve blocks for hip and femoral neck fractures in the emergency department \[MEDLINE (1946-2014), EMBASE (1947-2014), CINAHL (1960-2014), and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials\] indicated that the femoral nerve block was likely to be at least as effective as, if not superior to, standard analgesic practices for decreasing pain after ESF fracture.

The authors of the meta-analysis suggested the superiority of ultrasound guidance compared to anatomic techniques or use of neurostimulation for an adequate needle placement. Despite the increasing availability of ultrasound in the emergency department, recent literature supporting the efficacy of ultrasound-guided femoral nerve block, and the improvement of ultrasound skills in routine emergency medicine practice, the literature lacks of data about the effective duration of action, medication influence, and the occurrence of complications when an ultrasound-guided femoral nerve block is used by emergency physicians at the admission.

For patients with hip fractures, it is questioned if ultrasound-guided femoral block used early on admission in the emergency room is in more efficient than intravenous morphine titration in reducing opioid use before surgery? Our hypothesis is that early use of ultrasound-guided femoral nerve block in the emergency room decreases preoperative opioid use (intravenous and/or oral) in patients with proximal femoral fractures.

## Eligibility

- **Minimum age:** 18 Years
- **Sex:** ALL
- **Healthy Volunteers:** No

```
Inclusion Criteria:

* Patient whose age is ≥ 18 years
* Patient with a suspicion of proximal femoral fracture at the emergency triage, defined as direct traumatism on hip or fall associated with hip pain and/or clinostatism and/or lower extremity deformity with, typically, shortening of the externally rotated limb

  * Patient with a verbal numerical pain rating ≥ 7 on emergency triage
  * Patient with a diagnosis of ESF fracture made on x-rays in the emergency department
  * Patient with a normal lower extremity neurovascular examination
  * Anticipated preoperative delay of at least 3 hours
  * Patient affiliated to a health insurance plan
  * French-speaking patient
  * Patient or relative who has given free, informed and written consent

Exclusion Criteria:

* Patient with multiples trauma
* No surgical treatment decided by the orthopedic team
* Prior femoral nerve block performed during pre-hospital time
* Patient was not walking before the fracture
* Patient has received opioids prior to ED admission (by home caregivers or as part of usual treatment) or buprenorphine or nalbuphine
* Contraindications to opioids: acute respiratory failure, acute liver failure, epilepsy not controlled by treatment, allergy; documented severe intolerance to morphine
* Contraindications to loco-regional anesthesia: constitutional or acquired coagulation disorder (anticoagulant treatment, acute hepatic failure), skin infection or wound near to the potential injection site, acute failure of an underlying disease, allergy to Ropivacaine or chlorhexidine
* Patient already included in a type 1 interventional research protocol (RIPH1)
* Patient under guardianship or curatorship
* Patient deprived of liberty
* Patient under court protection
* Pregnant or breastfeeding patient
```

## Arms

- **Standard pain management** (ACTIVE_COMPARATOR) — Patients receive a standard analgesic treatment, in accordance with the latest international guidelines :

* if pain EN is ≥ 3: Paracetamol 1g every 6 hours (age \<75 years) or every 8 hours (# 75 years) and/or Tramadol 50 mg every 8 hours ;
* and/or if verbal EN for pain is ≥ 7: intravenous morphine titration according to local protocol: 3 mg bolus if weight \> 60 kg and age ≤ 80 years; Bolus of 2 mg if weight ≤ 60 kg and age ≤ 80 years ; Bolus of 1 mg if age\>80 years, regardless of weight ; This bolus is repeated every 5 minutes until an EN≤ 3 is obtained.
- **Femoral nerve block** (EXPERIMENTAL) — Patients receive a standard analgesic treatment, in accordance with the latest international guidelines 5,13,45: - if pain EN is ≥ 3:

Paracetamol 1g every 6 hours (age \<75 years) or every 8 hours (# 75 years) and/or Tramadol 50 mg every 8 hours; - and/or if verbal EN for pain is ≥ 7: intravenous morphine titration according to local protocol: 3 mg bolus if weight \> 60 kg and age ≤ 80 years; Bolus of 2 mg if weight ≤ 60 kg and age ≤ 80 years ; Bolus of 1 mg if age\>80 years, regardless of weight ; This bolus is repeated every 5 minutes until an EN≤ 3 is obtained.

## Interventions

- **Standard pain management** (OTHER) — Patients undergo ultrasound-guided femoral nerve blockperformed by a trained emergency physician, under strict aseptic conditions After the femoral nerve block is performed, the patient is monitored and (BP, HR, SpO2, ECG) during 90 minutes.
- **Femoral nerve block** (OTHER) — Patients undergo ultrasound-guided femoral nerve blockperformed by a trained emergency physician under strict aseptic conditions, immediately after oral informed consent is obtained. After the femoral nerve block is performed, the patient is monitored and (BP, HR, SpO2, ECG) during 90 minutes.

## Primary Outcomes

- **Advantage of the echo-guided femoral nerve block** _(time frame: Day 2)_ — This outcome corresponds to the absolute difference in opioid utilization (intravenous or oral) during the first 48 hours after the emergency department triage between a group of patients receiving standard pain management (SPN) and a group of patients receiving femoral nerve block (FNB).

## Secondary Outcomes

- **Evaluate the benefit of early implementation of FNB on reducing time to pain control after emergency triage** _(time frame: Day 1)_
- **Evaluate the benefit of early implementation of FNB on reducing time to standing after surgery** _(time frame: Hours 72)_
- **Evaluate the benefit of early implementation of the FNB on reducing overall opioid use (IV and/or PO) during the hospital stay** _(time frame: Day 30)_
- **Evaluate the benefit of early implementation of FNB on reducing the occurrence of complications related to overall opioid use (intravenous and/or per os)** _(time frame: Day 30)_
- **Evaluate the difficulty experienced by the emergency physician for the ultrasound location of the femoral nerve and for the injection technique of the local anesthetic** _(time frame: Day 1)_

## Locations (1)

- Groupe Hospitalier Paris Saint-Joseph, Paris, France

## Recent Field Changes (last 30 days)

- `status.overallStatus` — added _(2026-05-12)_
- `status.primaryCompletionDate` — added _(2026-05-12)_
- `status.completionDate` — added _(2026-05-12)_
- `status.lastUpdatePostDate` — added _(2026-05-12)_
- `design.phases` — added _(2026-05-12)_
- `design.enrollmentCount` — added _(2026-05-12)_
- `eligibility.criteria` — added _(2026-05-12)_
- `eligibility.minAge` — added _(2026-05-12)_
- `eligibility.sex` — added _(2026-05-12)_
- `outcomes.primary` — added _(2026-05-12)_
- `outcomes.secondary` — added _(2026-05-12)_
- `armsInterventions.arms` — added _(2026-05-12)_
- `armsInterventions.interventions` — added _(2026-05-12)_
- `sponsor.lead` — added _(2026-05-12)_
- `results.hasResults` — added _(2026-05-12)_
- `locations.groupe hospitalier paris saint-joseph|paris||france` — added _(2026-05-12)_

---

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*Source data (authoritative): https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT05515718*  
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