FAB Block vs. Placebo for Hip Arthroplasty Patients

Hip arthroplasty surgery can be associated with significant pain. A regional anesthesia technique, the femoral articular branch block (FAB), has recently been proposed to collectively block terminal femoral and accessory obturator nerve branches to the hip joint with a single injection, theoretically blocking most of the innervation relevant to hip arthroscopy while sparing the main femoral nerve branches to the quadriceps muscles. The investigators aim to demonstrate the analgesic benefits of FAB. The investigators hypothesize that FAB will reduce opioid consumption and improve postoperative quality of recovery in patients having hip arthroplasty. This is a randomized, controlled, double-blind study and half the patients will be randomized to receive the femoral articular branch block and the other half of patients will be randomized to receive a placebo block. A comparison of pain will be made between both groups.

NCT Number	NCT04301687
Lead Sponsor	Women's College Hospital
Conditions	Hip Arthroplasty, Anesthesia, Regional, Femoral Articular Branch Block
Enrollment	95 participants
Start Date	2026-12
Primary Completion	2027-12 (estimated)
Study Completion	2028-12 (estimated)
Updated on ClinicalTrials.gov	2026-04-27