Two-Compartment or 4-Compartment Fasciotomy for Lower Leg Chronic Exertional Compartment Syndrome: A Systematic Review

Patients with lower leg chronic exertional compartment syndrome are impaired due to exercise-related pain. Fasciotomy is the surgical gold standard. However, it is unknown whether number of simultaneously opened compartments affects outcome. The purpose of this systematic review was to compare patient-reported outcomes of a 2-compartment fasciotomy with a 4-compartment fasciotomy. Controlled clinical trials (randomized/nonrandomized), cohort studies and case series reporting on outcome following either 2-compartment or 4-compartment fasciotomy for lower leg chronic exertional compartment syndrome were searched until May 31, 2021 in PubMed, EMBASE, and Cochrane. Results were qualitatively synthesized. Risk of bias and levels of evidence were determined. Seven studies reporting on altogether 194 athletes and military personnel (mean age 24 y) were included. Quality assessment revealed a high risk of bias in all studies. Both 2-compartment and 4-compartment fasciotomy were associated with a 50% to 100% "return to activity" rate (in studies reporting group results separately: 2-compartment 90%-100%; 4-compartment 50%-100%) and a 41% to 100% "return to previous activity" rate (in studies reporting group results separately: 2-compartment 82-100%; 4-compartment 50%-100%) without significant differences. Mean Marx activity score of 1 study found a small significant standardized mean difference (0.196 [0.524,0.916]) favoring 4-compartment fasciotomy. Rate of satisfaction (2-compartment 74%-89%; 4-compartment 75%-100%) and residual symptoms (2-compartment 0%-36%; 4-compartment 0%-50%) indicated no group differences. In conclusion, a 2-compartment fasciotomy or a 4-compartment fasciotomy for lower leg chronic exertional compartment syndrome appears to be equally successful. However, included studies were hampered by methodological shortcomings (low sample size, selection bias, heterogeneity and no uniform outcome measures).