The Use of Cryotherapy for the Prevention of Wound Complications in the Treatment of Calcaneal Fractures

We analyzed the risk factors for skin infection and necrosis after calcaneal fracture surgery and evaluated the effect of cryotherapy in preventing postoperative skin infections and necrosis. We studied 129 calcaneal fracture patients (148 feet) who had undergone open reduction and internal fixation from January 2008 to December 2010. Three groups included were: control (44 patients; 49 feet), preoperative cryotherapy (43 patients; 48 feet), and perioperative cryotherapy (42 patients; 51 feet). The wound infection rate, Maryland foot score, and postoperative visual analog scale (VAS) score were compared. Risk factors for infection were analyzed using multinomial logistic regression. Both cryotherapy groups had lower infection rates, higher Maryland foot scores, lower VAS scores, and shorter hospitalizations than the control group (p < .05). The perioperative cryotherapy group had a lower infection rate, higher Maryland foot score, and shorter hospitalization (p < .05) but similar VAS score compared with the preoperative cryotherapy group (p > .05). Pre- and postoperative cryotherapy, postoperative drainage, surgical timing, smoking index, alcoholism, and suture method were risk factors for postoperative infection and necrosis. The risk of these can be largely reduced by patients not smoking and drinking alcohol and surgeons choosing the appropriate surgical timing, improving the suturing method, and performing postoperative drainage. Perioperative cryotherapy might be an effective method to decrease the postoperative infection rate, shorten the hospital stay, and reduce postoperative pain. Our findings require further validation in well-designed randomized controlled trials.