Tourniquet use in lower limb fracture surgery: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background: Tourniquets are commonly used in today's orthopaedic surgical practice, but little evidence is available regarding the links between the use of a tourniquet and the amount of post-operative pain and other complications. The aim of the study was to conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis comparing tourniquet versus non-tourniquet use during fracture surgery of the lower limb in adult patients.

Method: A search was performed using the keyword "tourniquet" in EmBase and as a MeSH term in PubMed, and no limitations (including language) were applied.