Comment: The quality of evidence is downgraded by several shortcomings in study quality and by imprecise results (few patients and wide confidence intervals).
A Cochrane review [Abstract] 1 included 2 studies with a total of 64 subjects, who were enrolled on the first post-operative day and randomised to continued packing by community district nursing teams or to no packing. Participants in the non-packing group managed their own wounds and used absorbant dressings to cover the area. One study reported a mean time to wound healing of 26.8 days (95% confidence interval (CI) 22.7 to 30.7) in the packing group and 19.5 days (95% CI 13.6 to 25.4) in the non-packing group; 7.30 days longer in the packing group (95% CI -2.24 to 16.84; n=14). The second study reported a median time to complete wound healing of 24.5 days (range 10 to 150 days) in the packing group and 21 days (range 8 to 90 days) in the non-packed group. Between the packed and non-packed groups, there was no clear evidence of a difference in the number of post-operative fistulae detected (RR 2.31, 95% CI 0.56 to 9.45) or in abscess recurrences (RR 0.72, 95% CI 0.22 to 2.37).
Date of latest search: 17 May 2016
Primary/Secondary Keywords