Tourniquet Use During Open Reduction and Internal Fixation of Ankle Fractures – A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

The intra-operative use of tourniquet in open reduction and internal fixation (ORIF) of ankle fractures remains a topic of debate. The purpose of this study was to perform a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized control trials (RCTs) comparing clinical outcomes of patients undergoing ankle ORIF with tourniquet use versus a control group where no tourniquet was used. A systematic review was performed with reference to Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses guidelines of the Pubmed, Scopus, Embase, and Cochrane Library databases. Studies were included if they were an RCT comparing tourniquet and no-tourniquet in ankle ORIF. Meta-analysis was performed using RevMan, and p-value <.05 was considered to be statistically significant. On completion of the literature search, a total of 4 RCTs including 350 ankles (52.6% males), with a mean age of 47.1 ± 5.7 years were included. There were 173 patients in the tourniquet group (T), versus 177 patients in the no tourniquet control group (NT), with nonsignificant differences between the groups for age, gender and body mass index demographics (all p > .05). There were significantly shorter duration of surgery, with significantly higher patient-reported rates of pain levels at day 2 postoperatively (both p < .001) in the T group. Additionally, there were significantly greater ranges of ankle motion at 6 weeks postoperatively (p = .03), with nonsignificant differences reported incidence of wound infections and deep vein thrombosis (p = .056 and p = .130 respectively) between the groups. In conclusion, current evidence suggests that although intraoperative tourniquet usage in cases of ankle ORIF results in significant reductions in duration of surgery, this may be at the expense of higher patient-reported pain scores and reduced range of motion postoperatively.