Effect of Drain Use in the Early Postoperative Period after Arthroscopically Assisted Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction with Bone-Patellar Tendon-Bone Graft

Background: Little data exist on the effect of routine use of postoperative drainage after arthroscopic anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction, although clinical studies of other procedures have not shown benefit to this practice. Hypothesis: Use of a postoperative drain will not result in decrea...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:The American journal of sports medicine 2003-05, Vol.31 (3), p.419-424
Main Authors: Dhawan, Aman, Doukas, William C., Papazis, Janet A., Scoville, Charles R.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Analysis of Variance
Anterior Cruciate Ligament - surgery
Anterior Cruciate Ligament Injuries
Arthroscopy
Biological and medical sciences
Drainage
Drainage, Surgical
Female
Health aspects
Humans
Ligaments
Male
Medical sciences
Mortality
Orthopedic surgery
Pain Measurement
Patellar Ligament - transplantation
Patient outcomes
Postoperative Complications - prevention & control
Postoperative Period
Prospective Studies
Range of Motion, Articular
Reconstructive Surgical Procedures
Risk factors
Skin & tissue grafts
Sports medicine
Statistics, Nonparametric
Surgery (general aspects). Transplantations, organ and tissue grafts. Graft diseases
Surgical wound infections
Treatment Outcome
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Background: Little data exist on the effect of routine use of postoperative drainage after arthroscopic anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction, although clinical studies of other procedures have not shown benefit to this practice. Hypothesis: Use of a postoperative drain will not result in decreased suprapatellar girth, increased range of motion, and decreased pain compared with nonuse. Study Design: Prospective randomized clinical trial. Methods: Twenty-one patients undergoing arthroscopically assisted bone-patellar tendon-bone anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction were randomly assigned to receive a drain for 24 hours (12 patients) or no drain (9 patients). Data for comparison of groups were collected daily through postoperative day 7. Results: Pain scores on a visual analog scale demonstrated the same improving trend over time for both treatment and control groups; however, the treatment group had significantly higher average pain scores, except on day 7. Differences in suprapatellar girth, flexion, and extension were not found to be statistically significant between groups. Conclusion: Use of a drain after arthroscopically assisted anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction provided no benefit in terms of range of motion, effusion, or pain in the early postoperative period.
ISSN:0363-5465
1552-3365
DOI:10.1177/03635465030310031601