Evidence map›Paper›PMID 32812137›Full record

Trial reportWorld journal of surgery2020

Simple Wound Irrigation in the Postoperative Treatment for Surgically Drained Spontaneous Soft Tissue Abscesses: A Prospective, Randomized Controlled Trial.

F Oehme, A Rühle, K Börnert, S Hempel, B-C Link, R Babst, J Metzger, F J-P Beeres

Abstract readRandomized Controlled Trial
PubMed Publisher
In one paragraph

Trial report in World journal of surgery, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
2citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
0.2field-weighted citation impact, top 45% of its field
1 · What the graph read from 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.

2 · The registry

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.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

2 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 5 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. A Systematic Review of Health-Related Quality-of-Life Measurement in Patients With Acute Bacterial Skin and Skin Structure Infections.Clinical infectious diseases : an official publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America · 2025
    Pooled it
  2. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

8 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.

F OehmeDepartment for Visceral, Thoracic and Vascular Surgery at the University Hospital Dresden, Carl Gustav Carus University Dresden, P.O. Box 01307, Dresden, Germany. florianoehme85@gmail.com.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4997-8176
A RühleDepartment of General, Visceral and Transplantation Surgery, University of Heidelberg, P.O. Box 69120, Heidelberg, Germany.
K BörnertDepartment of Trauma Surgery, Cantonal Hospital Obwalden, Brünigstrasse 181, P.O. Box 6060, 6060, Sarnen, Switzerland.
S HempelDepartment for Visceral, Thoracic and Vascular Surgery at the University Hospital Dresden, Carl Gustav Carus University Dresden, P.O. Box 01307, Dresden, Germany.
B-C LinkDepartment of Orthopaedic and Trauma Surgery, Cantonal Hospital Lucerne, Spitalstrasse 16, P.O. Box 6000, 6000, Lucerne, Switzerland.
R BabstDepartment of Orthopaedic and Trauma Surgery, Cantonal Hospital Lucerne, Spitalstrasse 16, P.O. Box 6000, 6000, Lucerne, Switzerland.
J MetzgerDepartment of General Surgery, Cantonal Hospital Lucerne, Spitalstrasse 16, P.O. Box 6000, 6000, Lucerne, Switzerland.
F J-P BeeresDepartment of Orthopaedic and Trauma Surgery, Cantonal Hospital Lucerne, Spitalstrasse 16, P.O. Box 6000, 6000, Lucerne, Switzerland.
University of Lucerne · CHUniversity Hospital Carl Gustav Carus · DEHeidelberg University · DE

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundSoft tissue abscesses are among the most frequently encountered medical problems treated by different surgeons. Standard therapy remains incision and drainage with sterile saline irrigation during postoperative wound healing period. Aim of this prospective randomized controlled trial was to compare sterile irrigation versus nonsterile irrigation. STUDY

designA single center randomized controlled trial was performed to investigate postoperative wound irrigation. The control group used sterile irrigation, and the intervention group used nonsterile irrigation. Primary endpoints were reinfection and reintervention rates, assessed during follow-up controls for up to 2 years. Secondary endpoints were the duration of wound healing, inability to work, pain and quality of life.

resultsBetween 04/2016 and 05/2017, 118 patients were randomized into two groups, with 61 allocated to the control- and 57 to the intervention group. Reinfection occurred in a total of 4 cases (6.6%) in the sterile protocol and 4 (7%) in the nonsterile protocol. Quality of life and pain values were comparable during the wound healing period, and patients treated according to the nonsterile irrigation protocol used significantly fewer wound care service teams. Despite equal wound persistence rates, a substantially shorter amount of time off from work was reported in the nonsterile protocol group (p value 0.086).

conclusionThis prospective, randomized trial indicates that a nonsterile irrigation protocol for patients operated on for soft tissue abscesses is not inferior to the standard sterile protocol. Moreover, a nonsterile irrigation protocol leads to a shorter period of inability to work with comparable pain and quality of life scores during the wound healing period.

Indexed as

AbscessAdultAftercareFemaleHumansMaleMiddle AgedProspective StudiesQuality of LifeSurgical Wound InfectionTherapeutic IrrigationTreatment Outcome

Identifiers

PMID32812137
OpenAlexW3078387501

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

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.