Regional Anesthesia by PENG-Block in Emergency Department

Pericapsular nerve block (PENG-block) is a regional anesthesia technique first described in 2018 and developed primarily as an analgesic technique in a perioperative setting during hip fractures related surgical procedures. The analgesic treatment with PENG-Block prevents motor block and thus reduces risk of intra-hospital falls. It also allows patients to get back on their feet more quickly and thus reduces loss of autonomy and risk of dependency. Moreover, it is a technique with a good safety profile that appears to be appropriate, feasible and effective in the context of the analgesic management of hip fractures in the emergency department. Therefore, some authors propose the use of PENG Block as an alternative to fascia iliaca block and femoral block for the analgesic management of this type of fracture.

The main objective of this study is to evaluate the effect of PENG Block combined with conventional multimodal analgesia when compared with conventional multimodal analgesia alone in terms of reduction of total morphine consumption in patients admitted to the emergency department for a hip fracture. The primary endpoint is the total morphine consumption from admission up to 24 hours after randomization or until surgery if the patient is operated on before 24 hours. The secondary objectives are : to assess whether the use of PENG-Block has an influence on the pain felt by the patient compared to conventional analgesia alone; to describe the tolerance of analgesia in the 2 groups; to assess whether the use of PENG-Block has an influence on the duration of hospitalization in the emergency department compared to conventional analgesia alone.

Inclusion criteria

• Adult patients (≥18 years old) admitted to the emergency department for a hip fracture
• Pain assessed by VAS/NRS ≥ 3 when the clinical suspicion of hip fracture is confirmed by the emergency physician
• Patients capable of expressing his/her consent prior to participation in the study
• Affiliated to or beneficiary of a social security regimen

Exclusion criteria

• Patients for who it is impossible to collect the pain assessment scale
• Patients with known or suspected bleeding disorders :

• Personal and family history of bleeding symptoms (spontaneous or induced)
• Clinical signs suggesting a haemostasis disorder
• Patient on anticoagulant at a curative dose with a very high risk of bleeding (labile International Normalized Ratio (INR), mechanical valve, acute kidney failure and treatment with direct oral anticoagulants)
• Inherited bleeding disorder (Hemophilia A, Hemophilia B, Von Willebrand disease, Fibrinogen deficiency, Factor XII deficiency)
• Pathologies that may interfere with hemostasis: advanced liver disease, decompensated hematological disease, collagen diseases such as Ehlers-Danlos disease
• Patients in whom it is impossible to perform the PENG-Block: Body Mass Index (BMI) > 40, adenopathy or infection at the puncture site, allergy to the anesthetics used
• Pregnant, parturient or breastfeeding women
• Patients under judicial protection or judicial safeguard
• Any other reason which, in the opinion of the investigator, could interfere with the evaluation of the study objectives