Retrospective analysis of complications after treatment of acute Achilles tendon rupture by Kessler technique

Abstract

Introduction: Open surgical treatment of Achilles tendon rupture comes with high ratio of complications. We have retrospectively evaluated those complications to find patients that would benefit from the mini-invasive technique.
Methods: We analysed all patients after surgical treatment of acute Achilles’ tendon rupture between the years 2014 and 2020. Information about the surgery, the following complications and patient’s characteristics were extracted from our documentation. Statistical analysis was concluded to evaluate their significance. We have included 134 patients with the Achilles tendon rupture in our analysis. The majority of patients were men (83.6%) and left-sided injuries were more common (51.5%). The average age was 45 years.
Results: Our results show that the most common complications after the treatment of Achilles tendon rupture in our clinic are wound dehiscence, thrombosis and infection. On the other hand, paresthesia and rupture are rare. We have confirmed that most complications occur in smoking patients. Our data show that age is a risk factor as well. Contrary to the previous study, our data did not show the female sex to be a risk factor.
Conclusion: Open surgical treatment of Achilles tendon rupture in our clinic is accompanied with relatively high complication rate. Mini-invasive techniques could improve the outcomes in the cohort of smoking older patients with acute Achilles tendon rupture. Please kindly refer to the corresponding author to obtain full data in English.