Plaster casts are often made from plaster of Paris, fibreglass or polyester, surrounding some padding and the dressing which goes over the skin. The orthopaedic trauma expert said: 'Cast treatment avoids the expense and risks of surgical fixation for seven out of eight patients. This compared to just one patient in the metal pin group of patients.īut Professor Matthew Costa, lead researcher, said the study's recommendation to use a plaster cast in the first instance still stood.
However, the researchers did find an eighth of patients in the plaster cast cohort did require follow-up surgery to ensure their bones were healing correctly within the first six weeks of treatment. This means that the cheaper and surgery-free plaster method was essentially just as effective as the metal pins for healing a broken wrist. Plaster cast patients scored their healing as 21.2 on average after 12 months, while the surgery group gave a rating around 20.7. The academics, who published their findings in the British Medical Journal, found no statistical difference in outcomes between the two groups. Patients also underwent checkups at both the three- and six-month mark to check if there were any complications. Participants gave scores out of 100 with lower numbers indicating better results. They were asked questions about whether they were still in pain, whether they could use their wrist, and how their quality of life was now.
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