Journal of AdvancedMedical and Dental Sciences Research

Background: The present study was conducted for comparing the efficacy of Femoral nerve block versus fentanyl: Analgesia for positioning patients with fractured femur. Materials & methods: 50 patients with fractured femur within the age range of 18–80 years, and with ASA physical status I–III were enrolled. Complete demographic and clinical details of all the patients was obtained. All the patients were randomly divided into two study groups with 25 patients in each group: Group A- Patients which were given femoral nerve block and Group B- Patients which received two doses of IV fentanyl 0.5 μg/kg with a five-minute interval between doses. Pain scores were assessed at 15 minutes after intervention with FNB or IV fentanyl. Pain scores 10 minutes after analgesia and during positioning were recorded on a scale of 0 to 10 with 0 indicating no pain and 10 indicating maximum unbearable pain. Additional fentanyl requirement during positioning and satisfaction with patient position maintained for spinal block (yes = satisfactory, no = not satisfactory) were also recorded. Results: Mean pain score 10 mins after analgesia among the patients of group A and group B was 2.9 and 3.2 respectively. Mean pain score during positing among the patients of group A and group B was 6.3 and 6.1 respectively. Additional fentanyl requirement was similar in both the study groups. Patient satisfaction was achieved among 22 patients of group A and 23 patients of group B. Non-significant results were obtained while comparing the pain scores among patients of group A and group B. Conclusion: No difference was observed in terms of analgesic benefit between FNB and IV fentanyl for patient positioning before spinal block.