When patients are treated in the operating theatre for a broken wrist, the surgeon will regularly use either a cast or wires to hold the wrist in place. At the moment we don't know whether the cast or wire is better, and whether one is more expensive than the other. DRAFFT-2 is comparing cast and wires to see which treatment is better, by asking patients about their wrist for a year after their injury.
Since early 2017, patients with broken wrists who were admitted to one of 36 participating hospitals in England and Wales have been enrolling in DRAFFT-2, and we have now finished the recruitment part of the study. Thank you to all the patients who are taking part, and well done to clinical and research staff at all the hospitals who have helped with the study!
For the next year we will be asking participants to complete questionnaires to tell us how their wrist is recovering and about any issues they have had along the way. In Summer/Autumn 2020 we will be able to calculate which treatment is better, publish the results in medical journals, and put a summary of the results on our website and in leaflets at participating hospitals.
DRAFFT-2 is funded by the National Institute for Health Research Health Technology Assessment programme (ID: 15/27/01).