Anterior Iliopsoas Muscle Space Block Versus Supra-iliac Anterior Quadratus Lumborum Block in Total Hip Arthroplasty

Approximately 1.66 million hip fractures happen in a year worldwide. About 95% of these fractures happen in individuals older than 60 years. Surgical treatment involving THA is considered the best option for patients with hip fractures and those with degenerative changes in the hip joint, especially in the elderly, however, it is associated with moderate to severe postoperative pain.

Pain is one of the main factors limiting ambulation, increasing the risk of thromboembolism by immobility, and causing metabolic changes that affect other systems. Therefore, individualized pain management with the use of appropriate analgesia techniques is of paramount importance. Moreover, early intervention of rehabilitation aiming at a better postoperative recovery may reduce the length of hospital stay and return to daily. Effective pain management is one of the crucial components of enhanced recovery after surgery (ERAS).

Numerous regional anesthetic techniques have been used to provide analgesia following THA, including intrathecal morphine, epidural analgesia, fascia iliaca block, lumber plexus block, sacral plexus block, and local infiltration analgesia, however, each of these techniques has specific limitations that prevent them from being the analgesic technique of choice for THA.

Up to investigators' knowledge, there is no study done to compare the supra-iliac approach to the anterior QL block versus the Anterior iliopsoas muscle space block as pre-emptive analgesia in patients undergoing THA under general anesthesia