TUESDAY, Oct. 8, 2024 (HealthDay News) — Liposomal bupivacaine is not associated with significant improvement in postoperative pain or function or hospital length of stay following hip hemiarthroplasty for a femoral neck fracture, according to a study published online Sept. 18 in the Journal of Bone & Joint Surgery.

Kevin K. Kang, M.D., from Maimonides Medical Center in Brooklyn, New York City, and colleagues randomly assigned 50 patients with an isolated intracapsular femoral neck fracture and treated with hip hemiarthroplasty (2018 to 2022) to either intraoperative liposomal bupivacaine and bupivacaine hydrochloride injections or intraoperative bupivacaine hydrochloride injections only.

The researchers observed no significant differences between the groups for average postoperative pain score, total morphine milligram equivalents used postoperatively, and postoperative day of discharge.

“The results of our study suggest that use of liposomal bupivacaine is not associated with substantially improved postoperative pain or function or with a shorter hospital course following hip hemiarthroplasty for a femoral neck fracture,” the authors write. “Given the higher cost of liposomal bupivacaine compared with standard postoperative pain modalities, it is worth questioning its use in the setting of geriatric hip fractures.”

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