Hip Arthroscopy Pain Control Randomized Control Trial (RCT)

Femoroacetabular impingement is a pathologic process within the hip joint that results from a mechanical discord between the femoral head and neck and the acetabulum that results in chronic hip pain, hip labral tears and early progression of osteoarthritis of the hip.1, 2 Historically an open surgical hip dislocation was performed to treat patients with this condition, however with recent advances in arthroscopy, patients more commonly now undergo arthroscopic hip surgery. From a pain management standpoint, previous attempts to provide peri-operative analgesia included intraarticular or portal analgesic injections. More recently, regional anesthesia techniques are being employed to provide more reliable and longer lasting post-operative pain control.3, 4 Currently, there are several local anesthetics available for regional anesthesia. However, they only provide an average of 12-18 hours of post-operative pain control following a single injection.5 Bupivacaine is a local anesthetic that has been used for many years by multiple routes to control post-operative pain. A new formulation of the medication prolongs the release of the active ingredient after a single injection and has been shown to result in up to 72 hours of post-operative analgesia.6, 7 To the investigator's knowledge, there has not been any studies in the literature comparing a historical control local anesthetic to this new formulation of liposomal bupivacaine via a fascial iliaca regional soft tissue infiltration blockade to provide post operative pain control following hip arthroscopy.