Systematic Reviews
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2021. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Orthop. May 18, 2021; 12(5): 320-328
Published online May 18, 2021. doi: 10.5312/wjo.v12.i5.320
Endoscopic fasciotomy for chronic exertional compartment syndrome of the forearm: Systematic review of outcomes and complications
Yousef Marwan, Abdullah Addar, Nizar Algarni, Nabil Algarni, Mark Burman, Paul A Martineau
Yousef Marwan, Abdullah Addar, Nizar Algarni, Mark Burman, Paul A Martineau, Division of Orthopaedic Surgery, McGill University Health Centre, Montreal H3G-1A4, Quebec, Canada
Nabil Algarni, Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, King Fahad Medical City, Riyadh 00966, Saudi Arabia
Author contributions: Marwan Y, Addar A and Algarni N participated in all steps of the project, including planning, literature search, data extraction, data analysis, data interpretation and manuscript preparation; Algarni N participated in planning, data analysis, data interpretation and manuscript preparation; Burman M and Martineau PA supervised all steps of the project; all authors have read and approved the final version of the manuscript.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors declare that they have no competing interests.
PRISMA 2009 Checklist statement: The authors have read the PRISMA 2009 Checklist, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the PRISMA 2009 Checklist.
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: Yousef Marwan, BM BCh, BSc, FRCSC, Academic Fellow, Division of Orthopaedic Surgery, McGill University Health Centre, 1650 Cedar Avenue, B5-159.6, Montreal H3G-1A4, Quebec, Canada. yousefmarwan@hotmail.com
Received: January 19, 2021
Peer-review started: January 19, 2021
First decision: February 15, 2021
Revised: February 18, 2021
Accepted: April 22, 2021
Article in press: April 22, 2021
Published online: May 18, 2021
Processing time: 113 Days and 10.2 Hours
ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS
Research background

Chronic exertional compartment syndrome (CECS) of the forearm can limit the quality of life and sport activities. Endoscopic forearm fasciotomy has been described to manage this condition.

Research motivation

The literature of endoscopic forearm fasciotomy for CECS has not been analyzed in detail.

Research objectives

To systematically review the literature if endoscopic fasciotomy for the management of CECS of the forearm.

Research methods

PubMed and EMBASE were searched, and all relevant studies were considered for analysis based on predetermined inclusion/exclusion criteria. The subject headings “endoscopic fasciotomy” and “compartment syndrome” and their related key terms were used.

Research results

A total of seven studies including 183 patients (355 forearms) were included. All patients were able to return to sport activities between postoperative week 1 to 8. Recurrence of the compartment syndrome occurred in three patients. The overall complication rate was 8.7% per patient, and 4.5% per forearm.

Research conclusions

Outcome of endoscopic fasciotomy for CECS of the forearm are favorable, with low recurrence and complication rates.

Research perspectives

Future larger, long-term follow-up, prospective, comparative studies between open, mini-open and endoscopic fasciotomy techniques are needed.