Trial reportEuropean journal of trauma and emergency surgery : official publication of the European Trauma Society2018
Wound complications after ankle surgery. Does compression treatment work? A randomized, controlled trial.
Trial report in European journal of trauma and emergency surgery : official publication of the European Trauma Society, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
3 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 7 citations in OpenAlex.
- A systematic review of the relative differences in adverse events used for sample size calculations in orthopaedic trauma trials.European journal of orthopaedic surgery & traumatology : orthopedie traumatologie · 2026Pooled it
- Clinical Outcomes of Non-Elastic Compression Bandage Versus Elastic Bandage Following Lateral Ankle Ligament Repair.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Coverage of exposed bone and hardware of the medial malleolus with tibialis posterior artery perforator flap after ankle fracture surgery complications.International wound journal · 2020Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
purposeInfection rates following ankle fractures are as high as 19% in selected material and is the most common complication following this type of surgery, with potential catastrophic consequences. The purpose of this study was to test a regime of intermittent pneumatic compression, a compression bandage and a compression stocking and its effect on the rate of wound complications. The hypothesis was that compression could lower the infection rate from 20 to 5%.
methodsWe performed a randomized, controlled, non-blinded trial, including 153 adult patients with unstable ankle fractures. Patients were randomized to either compression (N = 82) or elevation (N = 71). Patients with open fracture, DVT, pulmonary embolism, dementia, no pedal pulse, or no Danish address were excluded. Primary endpoint was infection. Secondary endpoints were necrosis and wound dehiscence.
resultsAfter 2 weeks, 1.4% (0.0;7.6) in the compression group had infection compared to 4.6% (1.0;12.9) in the control group, p = 0.35. The rate of necrosis after 2 weeks was 7.0% (95% CI 2.3;15.7) in the compression group compared with 26.2% (95% CI 16.0;38.5) in the elevation group, p = 0.004. No difference was shown regarding wound dehiscence.
conclusionBased on this study, we cannot conclude if compression therapy prevents infection or not. This is mainly due to under-powering of the study. The effect on necrosis was in favor of compression, but the trial was not powered to show a difference regarding this endpoints and the result is thus hypothesis generating. Further research is needed before a thorough recommendation on the use of compression treatment that can be made.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.