Effectiveness of the Suprainguinal Ultrasound-Guided Block for the Management of Postoperative Pain after Application of a Total Hip Prosthesis

Abstract

Objective: To assess the effectiveness of ultrasound-guided supraginguinal block (SIB) in the management of pain after total hip replacement. Material and Methods: This was a prospective, randomized, single-blind controlled study carried out in the anesthesia-intensive care unit of the Donka National Hospital in Conakry, over a period of 06 months (01/01/2020 to 30/06/2020). It concerned 32 patients: 16 patients in the "ultrasound-guided SIB" group and 16 patients in the "standard analgesia" group. Results: The pain scores assessed by the simple verbal scale and collected at the different time intervals (6H, 12H, 24H, 36H, 48H) showed mean scores < 1 in the ultrasound-guided SIB group while the mean scores were ≤3 in the standard analgesia group (P < 0.001). On movement, the mean pain scores were ≤1 for the ultrasound-guided SIB group versus mean scores > 3 in the standard analgesia group (P < 0.001). The time to mobilization was greater than 48 hours in all patients in the standard analgesia group while it was less than 48 hours in the majority of patients (75%) in the ultrasound-guided SIB group. Nausea and vomiting were the most observed side effects. We did not observe any respiratory distress. The length of day hospitalization of patients in the ultrasound-guided SIB group was on average 5.50 ± 0.52 compared with 13.44 ± 1.55 in the group of standard analgesia patients (P = 0.001). The vast majority of patients in the ultrasound-guided SIB group were satisfied and unhappy in the standard analgesia group. Conclusion: Our study demonstrated that echo-guided