Early vs Late Surgical Intervention for Morel-Lavallée Injuries: A Pacific Coast Surgical Association Prospective Multicenter Study.

Abstract

Morel-Lavallée lesions (MLLs) are closed degloving injuries that occur throughout the body and present treatment challenges due to their rarity and variability in management. We aimed to compare characteristics and outcomes for MLL patients undergoing early (less than 48 hours) vs late (more than 48 hours) surgical intervention, hypothesizing decreased length of stay (LOS) with early intervention. Fifteen centers participated in this prospective observational study, including all adult patients who sustained a MLL and underwent surgery. No patients were excluded. Bivariate comparisons for early vs late intervention cohorts were performed. Of 150 MLL patients, 101 (67.3%) underwent early intervention. Both cohorts had comparable ages, BMI, vitals, Charlson Comorbidity Index, and injury severity scores (all p > 0.05). However, early intervention patients more commonly had abdominal (37% vs 6.3%, p < 0.001) MLLs, whereas late intervention patients more often had hip (16.7% vs 3.0%, p = 0.01) and thigh (41.7% vs 22%, p = 0.03) MLLs. Early patients had shorter ICU LOS (2 vs 5, p = 0.003) but statistically similar hospital LOS (12 vs 20, p = 0.06). There was no difference in wound-related complications (19.8% vs 24.5%, p = 0.51) or mean number of additional surgeries (p = 0.41) between cohorts. Over two-thirds of MLL patients underwent early operation. These patients had decreased ICU LOS and a statistically similar albeit clinically shorter overall LOS, despite similar demographics, comorbidities, injury severity, and number of additional surgeries. Therefore, early operation appears beneficial and should be pursued in MLL patients when clinically indicated and feasible.