Percutaneous Repair of Acute Achilles Tendon Rupture With Assistance of Intraoperative Ultrasound

Acute Rupture of Achilles Tendon

This is a prospective randomized controlled study carried out between May 2016 and December 2020. It included 98 patients presented with acute rupture of Achilles tendon The patients were randomly distributed by closed envelop technique (49 in each group). Group A included those managed with the assistant of an intra-operative ultrasound. Group B included those done without ultrasound assistant

A preoperative prophylactic dose of antibiotic was given intravenously in the form of 2gm of cephalosporin one hour before operation. Under general or regional anesthesia, the patient laid in prone position without a tourniquet and both feet out of the table for easily mobilization of the ankle joint. In group A, an intraoperative ultrasound was done by a radiologist before the repair for identification the course of sural nerve and outline the medial and lateral edges of torn tendon. Then ultrasound was repeated after repair for confirmation of adequate contact of both stumps and satisfactory strength of the repair by visualization of the tendon with passive motion of the ankle. For patients in group B, the course of the sural nerve was determined according to the technique described by Blackmon et al. This technique depends on the leg length for location the point where the nerve crosses the lateral edge of the tendon. The medial and lateral borders of both stumps were outlined by palpation with identification of the gap in-between. The technique of repair was standardized for all patients in both groups. We used the technique described by Maffulli et al