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· DOS Abstracts
Oedema treatment after ankle fracture
Jesper Stork-Hansen, Rajzan Joanroy, Kristine Bollerup Arndt,
Anders Jordy, Bjarke Viberg
Department of Orthopaedic Surgery and Traumatology, Kolding Hospital – part
of Hospital Lillebaelt;
Background:
Ankle fractures treated with open reduction internal fixation
(ORIF) have a high percentage of wound complications. By reducing the oe-
dema, the wound complications might be lowered.
Purpose / Aim of Study:
To investigate the influence of compression stocking
(CS) on complications after primary ankle fractures treated with open reduction
internal fixation (ORIF).
Materials and Methods:
February 1st 2013, CS was introduced as a standard
treatment for all patients after surgical treatment with ORIF for ankle fractures
for minimum duration of 6 weeks. Data was retrieved from the hospital da-
tabase 2 years prior and after the introduction date. All health records were
reviewed for type of procedure, age, sex, diabetes, smoking, Gustilo-Anderson
classification, American Society of Anaesthesiologists (ASA) score, use of tour-
niquet, suture type, and complications. All x-ray images were classified accord-
ing to AO- classification.
Findings / Results:
187 patients were included, 74 in the CS group and 113 in
the control group. The median (InterQuartile Range – IQR) age was 52.0 (38.8-
63.3) years. There were no baseline differences in age, sex, diabetes, smoking,
ASA score or open/closed wounds. However, there was a higher percentage in
the CS group of tourniquet use (p<0.001), monocryl sutures (p<0.001), and
complex fractures (p<0.002). 23.0% had wound healing complications after 6
weeks in the CS group compared to 13.3% in the control group (p<0.001). In
total, there were 19.5% complications in the CS group and 33.8% in the con-
trol group. The were 2.7% major complications within 1 year in both groups
(p<0.765).
Conclusions:
There may be bias in the CS group due to higher rate of tour-
niquet use, monocryl sutures and complex fractures but CS does not seem to
lower the wound complications within 6 weeks after surgery.
No conflicts of interest reported
120.