Clinical use of a new tourniquet system for foot and ankle surgery

This study reports the results of the clinical use of a new tourniquet system for surgery of foot and ankle that can determine tourniquet pressure in synchrony with systolic blood pressure (SBP). We prospectively applied additional pressure of 100 mmHg based on the SBP recorded before the skin incision in 100 consecutive procedures. There were 34 open reduction internal fixation procedures, 26 lateral colateral ligament repair or reconstruction, 16 Achilles tendon repairs, nine arthroscopic procedures such as removal of loose body or accessory bone and synovectomy, seven corrective osteotomy and eight others such as removal of tumour, ankle fusion, and bone graft. The average initial tourniquet pressure was 211 mmHg. The average maximum SBP change during surgery was 28 mmHg. All cases maintained an excellent operative field without measurable bleeding and there were no postoperative complications. Fifty-five cases had a lower intra-operative SBP than the initial value. Since a tourniquet should be applied at the lowest pressure possible for maintaining a bloodless surgical field, the new system appears to be practical and reasonable, as compared to conventional tourniquets, which maintain the initial pressure.