Randomized Controlled Trial
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2020. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Orthop. Nov 18, 2020; 11(11): 492-498
Published online Nov 18, 2020. doi: 10.5312/wjo.v11.i11.492
Patients’ perspectives on the conventional synthetic cast vs a newly developed open cast for ankle sprains
Byung Cho Min, Ji Soo Yoon, Chin Youb Chung, Moon Seok Park, Ki Hyuk Sung, Kyoung Min Lee
Byung Cho Min, Ji Soo Yoon, Chin Youb Chung, Moon Seok Park, Ki Hyuk Sung, Kyoung Min Lee, Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Seoul National University Bundang Hospital, Seongnam 463-707, Gyeonggi, South Korea
Author contributions: Chung CY, Park MS, Sung KH, and Lee KM conceptualized and designed the study; Min BC, Yoon JS, and Lee KM collected, analyzed, and interpreted the data; Min BC, Yoon JS, and Lee KM wrote the first draft of the paper; Chung CY, Park MS, and Sung KH critically revised the paper for important intellectual content; All authors finally approved the paper to be published.
Institutional review board statement: This prospective study was approved by the institutional review board of our hospital. Informed consent was obtained from all study participants.
Conflict-of-interest statement: There are no conflicts of interest regarding this study.
Data sharing statement: Dataset available from the corresponding author at request.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Kyoung Min Lee, MD, PhD, Doctor, Clinical Associate Professor, Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Seoul National University Bundang Hospital, 300 Gumi-Dong, Bundang-Gu, Seongnam 463-707, Gyeonggi, South Korea. oasis100@empal.com
Received: April 10, 2020
Peer-review started: April 10, 2020
First decision: September 18, 2020
Revised: September 30, 2020
Accepted: October 20, 2020
Article in press: October 20, 2020
Published online: November 18, 2020
Processing time: 218 Days and 12.2 Hours
Abstract
BACKGROUND

Orthopedic physicians typically apply a cast to immobilize a body part that has been injured. There have been no significant structural changes or advances in synthetic casts since the development of the modern cast. The Opencast® is a recently developed type of cast that allows ventilation and direct visual inspection of the skin to avoid cast-related complications. Although this novel cast appears to have more benefits than the conventional synthetic cast, its clinical efficacy and advantages have not been established.

AIM

To investigate the clinical efficacy and advantages of the newly developed Opencast® based on patients’ perspectives in those with ankle inversion injury.

METHODS

A specifically designed questionnaire consisting of 19 items was used to compare patients’ opinions and concerns of the Opencast® and the conventional synthetic cast. The items were focused on subjective patient satisfaction, discomfort, and adverse effects while wearing the cast. Patients with an ankle inversion injury diagnosed as a high-grade ankle sprain were enrolled. The subjects were randomized and instructed to fill the questionnaire after wearing a synthetic cast or an Opencast® for 2 wk. They were then required to fill the questionnaire again, after switching to the alternative type of cast for 2 more weeks.

RESULTS

A total of 22 subjects participated in the study. The synthetic cast appeared to be more rigid and stable than the Opencast®, but there was no significant difference in the amount of pain relief. The likelihood of adverse effects when wearing the synthetic cast was significantly higher. Patient satisfaction tended to be rated higher after wearing the Opencast®. Opencast® showed more subjective vulnerability than the synthetic cast, but there was no significant difference in the redo rate. Patients were more anxious about removal of the synthetic cast than of the Opencast®.

CONCLUSION

The results indicate that the Opencast® could replace the conventional synthetic cast as it offers increased patient satisfaction, which would in turn increase compliance to treatment.

Keywords: Clinical utility; Comparison; Open cast; Conventional cast; Cast material; Ankle sprain

Core Tip: A newly developed Opencast® was found to provide more convenience and satisfaction in patients with ankle sprain. The patients wearing the Opencast® could take showers and felt less anxiety during cast removal. These characteristics are expected to increase the patients’ compliance with treatment.