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Drainage relieves pain without increasing post-operative blood loss in high tibial osteotomy: a prospective randomized controlled study

International Orthopaedics volume 44, pages 1037–1043 (2020)Cite this article

Abstract

Purpose

Drainage is a common procedure in high tibial osteotomy (HTO), but the benefits of drainage during HTO remain poorly investigated. This study was designed to investigate the effect of drainage on blood loss and early functional recovery in HTO.

Methods

Altogether, 80 patients undergoing HTO were analyzed from August 2018 to September 2019. Patients were randomized into two groups: group A (drainage, n = 40) and group B (no drainage, n = 40). There were no intergroup differences in baseline parameters between the two groups, and the same surgical techniques and haemostatic methods were used. The mean follow-up time was 3.2 months. Blood loss and early functional recovery of the knee were examined post-operatively in both groups.

Results

The total post-operative blood loss was 253.34 ± 104.18 ml in group A and 222.51 ± 106.89 ml in group B. This difference was non-significant (p > 0.05). The post-operative haemoglobin and haematocrit differences between groups were also non-significant (p > 0.05). Post-operative visual analogue scale (VAS) pain scores and lower leg swelling were lower in group A than those in group B (p < 0.05), and the early range of motion of the knee joint was higher in group A than that in group B (p < 0.05). Group A had lower incidence rates of dressing seepage and incision complications than group B (p < 0.05). The differences in three month post-operative VAS and knee function scores were non-significant (p > 0.05).

Conclusion

Drainage in HTO does not increase patients’ total blood loss, but it can promote early knee function recovery by reducing post-operative pain, lower leg swelling, and the incidence of incision complications.

Trial registration

NCT-03954860

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Acknowledgements

We thank Professor Yuchen Fan from Qilu Hospital of Shandong University for his help in statistics.

Author information

Affiliations

  1. Department of Orthopedics, Qilu Hospital of Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong, China

    Songlin Li, Qunshan Lu, Meng Zhang, Zhuang Miao, Desu Luo & Peilai Liu

  2. Department of Orthopedics, Laoling Hospital of traditional Chinese Medicine, Dezhou, Shandong, China

    Jianling Yang

  3. Shandong University Cheeloo College of Medicine, Jinan, Shandong, China

    Christiaan Watson

Authors
  1. Songlin Li
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  2. Jianling Yang
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  3. Christiaan Watson
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  4. Qunshan Lu
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  5. Meng Zhang
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  6. Zhuang Miao
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  7. Desu Luo
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  8. Peilai Liu
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Peilai Liu.

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Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Ethical approval

This trial was approved by the ethics committee of the local hospital (KYLL-2017-001) and was registered at ClinicalTrials.gov, number NCT-03954860.

Informed consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Li, S., Yang, J., Watson, C. et al. Drainage relieves pain without increasing post-operative blood loss in high tibial osteotomy: a prospective randomized controlled study. International Orthopaedics (SICOT) 44, 1037–1043 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00264-020-04530-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00264-020-04530-z

Keywords

  • High tibial osteotomy
  • Drainage
  • Blood loss
  • Tranexamic acid