[Current status of treatment of Achilles tendon ruptures. Results of a nationwide survey in Germany].
In a standard questionnaire distributed nationwide, we questioned staff from 1307 clinics (surgical, trauma-surgical, orthopedic), of which 787 clinics (60.2%) answered by letter. In 698 clinics (88.7%), operation is considered the standard therapy. Seventy-five clinics (9.5%) use both conservative and operative therapy (average postoperative rate of complication 3.5%). Only 14 hospitals (1.8%) treat strictly conservatively. The average rate of reruptures is 1.6% in the operated group (77.7% postoperative plaster cast fixation) regardless of postoperative treatment; the conservative group (96.1% functional treatment) showed 2.7% reruptures. Thus, operation is the standard therapy for fresh ruptures of the Achilles tendon in Germany. However, there seems to be a trend towards conservative functional therapy.
Lill
H
H
Unfallchirurgische Klinik, Klinikum Minden.
Moor
C
C
Schmidt
A
A
Echtermeyer
V
V
D000125:Achilles Tendon / Q000293:injuries* / Q000601:surgery; D005858:Germany; D006801:Humans; D011183:Postoperative Complications / Q000209:etiology* / Q000601:surgery; D011785:Quality Assurance, Health Care; D012008:Recurrence; D013536:Suture Techniques; D013708:Tendon Injuries / Q000601:surgery*; D016896:Treatment Outcome