Incidence of complications after Achillon® mini-open suture system for repair of acute midsubstance achilles tendon ruptures: a systematic review.

The most appropriate operative treatment of acute midsubstance Achilles tendon ruptures is controversial. One approach uses a mini-open, device-assisted suture system (Achillon(®) System(™), Integra LifeSciences Corp, Plainsboro, NJ) that has been generally available since 2002. To date, the incidence of complications with this system has not yet been evaluated. Therefore, we conducted a systematic review of electronic databases and relevant peer-reviewed sources as outlined by the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines for the preparation of systematic reviews. Studies that reported acute (injury to surgery interval ≤ 10 days) midsubstance Achilles tendon ruptures repaired with the Achillon(®) mini-open suture system, provided a detailed description of all complications encountered, and a mean follow-up period of 12 months or more and 15 repairs or more were included. A total of 33 studies were identified, of which 8 (24%) met our inclusion criteria involving 253 repairs. Four studies were prospective and involved 169 repairs. The weighted mean age for the entire cohort was 39.5 (range 22 to 82) years, and the weighted mean follow-up period was 19.2 (range 5 to 44) months. The incidence of complications was 8.3% (21 of 253) and included 8 (3.2%) repeat ruptures, 5 (2%) incision problems, 3 (1.2%) sural nerve injuries, 3 (1.2%) suture reactions or irritations, and 2 (0.8%) infections. Our systematic review revealed that this mini-open, device-assisted suture system provides a safe and reproducible technique to repair acute midsubstance Achilles tendon ruptures with an acceptable incidence of complications.