normal saline + epinephrine

This intervention is a placebo control formulation used in clinical research conducted by the University of California, San Diego, specifically for managing postoperative pain following hip arthroscopy. It consists of a combination of normal saline (0.9% sodium chloride) and epinephrine, administered via a Pericapsular Nerve Group (PENG) block. The PENG block is an ultrasound-guided regional anesthetic technique that targets the sensory articular branches of the femoral, obturator, and accessory obturator nerves located in the fascial plane between the psoas muscle and the pubic ramus. While the saline serves as an inactive volume replacement, the epinephrine acts as a vasoconstrictor to mimic the clinical conditions of the active treatment arm (bupivacaine) and to assist in maintaining the triple-masking of the trial by potentially inducing minor localized physiological effects.

Other names

0.9% Sodium Chloride + epinephrineSaline PENG block