Clinical trial of a low-cost external fixator for global surgery use
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Published version
Author(s)
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
PURPOSE: A low-cost modular external fixator for the lower limb has been developed for global surgery use. The purpose of this study is to assess outcome measures in the first clinical use of the device. METHODS: A prospective cohort study was conducted with patients recruited in two trauma hospitals. Initial clinical procedure data were collected, and patients were followed up every two weeks until 12 weeks or definitive fixation. Follow-up assessed infection, stability, and radiographic outcomes. In addition, patient-reported outcomes and surgeons' feedback on device usability were collected by questionnaires. RESULTS: The external fixator was used on 17 patients. Ten were mono-lateral, five were joint spanning, and two were delta configuration. One patient had a pin site infection at 12-week follow-up. All were stable when tested mechanically and using radiographic assessment, and 53% were converted to definitive fixation. CONCLUSION: The low-cost external fixator developed is appropriate for use in global surgery trauma centres with good clinical outcomes. PROSPECTIVE TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER AND DATE: SLCTR/2021/025 (06 Sep 2021).
Date Issued
2023-07
Date Acceptance
2023-03-23
Citation
International Orthopaedics, 2023, 47 (7), pp.1663-1669
ISSN
0341-2695
Publisher
Springer
Start Page
1663
End Page
1669
Journal / Book Title
International Orthopaedics
Volume
47
Issue
7
Copyright Statement
© The Author(s) 2023
Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long
as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source,
provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes
were made. The images or other third party material in this article are
included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated
otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in
the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not
permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will
need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a
copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long
as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source,
provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes
were made. The images or other third party material in this article are
included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated
otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in
the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not
permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will
need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a
copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
License URL
Identifier
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37074376
Subjects
Damage control orthopaedics
External fixator
Global surgery
Orthopaedics
Trauma
Publication Status
Published
Coverage Spatial
Germany
Date Publish Online
2023-04-19