Comparison of Two Different Approaches in the Fascia Iliaca Compartment Block in Femoral Fracture Surgery

Fascia Iliaca Compartment Block (FICB) is a popular regional anaesthetic technique for surgical procedures involving the hip joint and femur. The FICB may be thought of as an anterior approach to the lumbar plexus where local anaesthetic is injected proximally beneath the fascia iliaca, with the aim of blocking the femoral nerve ,obturator nerve and lateral cutaneous nerve of thigh simultaneously. In addition to providing effective analgesia, peripheral nerve blocks are increasingly preferred especially in frail patient groups such as the geriatric population which femoral fractures are the most common, because of their advantages such as avoiding the complications of neuraxial anesthesia and the side effects of opioids. FICB can be applied with ultrasound-guided suprainguinal or infrainguinal approaches. Studies on the superiority of the two methods used in clinical practice are limited. In this study, it is aimed to compare the suprainguinal (Group S) and infrainguinal (Group I) approaches of FICB applied in the preoperative period in femoral fractures in which spinal anesthesia method was chosen. These two methods will be compared in terms of postoperative pain scores (11-point numeric scale), morphine consumption (by intravenous patient controlled analgesia for postoperative 24 hours) and possible side effects-complications.