title: Compressive cryotherapy versus cryotherapy alone in patients undergoing knee surgery: a meta-analysis.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This study aims to conduct a meta-analysis to identify and compare the effectiveness of compressive cryotherapy and cryotherapy alone for patients undergoing knee surgery.
  
  
  BACKGROUND
  Postoperative management is an important guarantee for the success of surgery. Cryotherapy and compression are two common nursing techniques after knee surgery, and are considered to be effective for postoperative clinical symptoms such as local pain and swelling. However, no previous meta-analyses have compared the effectiveness of compressive cryotherapy and cryotherapy alone in patients undergoing knee surgery.
  
  
  METHODS
  A meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials (RCTs).
  
  
  METHODS
  We conducted a search in MEDLINE (via Pubmed, 1990-2014), EMBASE (via Elsevier, 1990-2014), Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (The Cochrane Library, 1990-2014), CINAHL (1990-2014) and China National Knowledge Infrastructure (1990-2014) databases for RCTs published in English and Chinese. The primary outcome measure of interest was visual analog scale and girth measure. Finally, a meta-analysis was carried out using RevMan 5.3.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Among the 593 RCTs, 10 RCTs were selected and included into this study. These studies included 522 patients who underwent knee surgery. Patients who underwent compressive cryotherapy tended to have less pain than patients who underwent cryotherapy alone at POD2 and POD3, while compressive cryotherapy had a strong tendency towards less swelling over cryotherapy alone at POD1 and POD2. However, there was no significant difference between compressive cryotherapy and cryotherapy alone at the intermediate stage of rehabilitation after knee surgery. All adverse reactions were recorded in all included RCTs.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Current evidence suggests that compressive cryotherapy is beneficial to patients undergoing knee surgery at the early rehabilitation stage. At the last stage, the effectiveness of compressive cryotherapy and cryotherapy alone were found to be similar.
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopaedics, The First Affiliated Hospital of Dalian Medical University, 222 Zhong Shan Road, Dalian, 116011 Liaoning People's Republic of China.|Department of Orthopaedics, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Dalian Medical University, 378 Shi Ji West Road, Jinpu New Area, 116200 Liaoning People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Mingzhi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Song
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopaedics, The First Affiliated Hospital of Dalian Medical University, 222 Zhong Shan Road, Dalian, 116011 Liaoning People's Republic of China.|Department of Nursing, The First Affiliated Hospital of Dalian Medical University, 222 Zhong Shan Road, Dalian, 116011 Liaoning People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Xiaohong
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopaedics, The First Affiliated Hospital of Dalian Medical University, 222 Zhong Shan Road, Dalian, 116011 Liaoning People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Xiliang
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Tian
authors.affiliation: Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Dalian Medical University, 222 Zhong Shan Road, Dalian, 116011 Liaoning People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Xianbin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Nursing, The First Affiliated Hospital of Dalian Medical University, 222 Zhong Shan Road, Dalian, 116011 Liaoning People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Tieying
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Shi
authors.affiliation: Department of Nursing, The First Affiliated Hospital of Dalian Medical University, 222 Zhong Shan Road, Dalian, 116011 Liaoning People's Republic of China.|Operation Room, The First Affiliated Hospital of Dalian Medical University, 222 Zhong Shan Road, Dalian, 116011 Liaoning People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Ran
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.affiliation: Department of Nursing, The First Affiliated Hospital of Dalian Medical University, 222 Zhong Shan Road, Dalian, 116011 Liaoning People's Republic of China.|Operation Room, The First Affiliated Hospital of Dalian Medical University, 222 Zhong Shan Road, Dalian, 116011 Liaoning People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Dai
keywords: Anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction; Arthroscopy; Cryotherapy; Edema; Meta-analysis; Nursing; Pain; Pain relief; Postoperative care; Postoperative complications; Surgery; Total knee arthroplasty