The objective of this report was to assess the clinical benefits and harms of fibreglass total contact casting, removable cast walkers, and irremovable cast walkers in people with diabetic foot ulcers. [...] The role of the expert advisors was to contextualize the evidence and provide advice on the use of the interventions being evaluated. [...] Source: Adapted from Moher et al.41 Design and Characteristics of the Included Studies The 13 RCTs yielded a total of 19 treatment comparisons.16,28-39 Total contact casting was compared with irremovable cast walkers in three studies,28,29,36 with removable cast walkers in six studies,16,28,32-34,38 and with therapeutic shoes in five studies.16,31,35,38,39 Irremovable cast walkers were compared wi [...] Additional patient baseline characteristics are presented in Appendix 5. Methodological Quality of the Included Studies Complete results of the methodology checklist for included studies are presented in Appendix 2. It was not possible to blind the patients or the treating physician to the treatment assignment, although some studies did attempt to blind the outcome assessor to the treatment group. [...] Treatment Discontinuation One study reported no treatment discontinuations.29 In the other two, treatment discontinuations occurred in 13% and 20% of the total contact casting group and 9% and 14% of the irremovable cast walker group.28,36 Treatment discontinuations resulted from voluntary withdrawal and losses to follow-up (Table 1).
- Pages
- 124
- Published in
- Toronto, ON, CA
