A clinical study of degloving injuries in 173 fingers

Abstract

Objective To compare the clinical results of three different treatments for degloving injuries of the fingers. Methods During January 2002 and October 2008,173 fingers sustained with degloving injurieswere treated.The fingers were treated with one of the three different procedures:replantation (group A),second toe wrap-around flap (group B) and abdominal pedicle flap (group C).The function of the fingers was assessed and the satisfactory rate of three groups was statistically analyzed for all patients. Results Seventy-two of the 79 fingers in group A survived.The overall survival rate was 91.1％.76 of the 79 fingers in group B survived,the overall survival rate being 96.2％.All the fingers treated by abdominal pedicle flap survived.Follow-up period ranged from 3 months to 2 years (average 8 months).According to the evaluation criteria for finger reconstruction issued by the Chinese Hand Surgery Society of Chinese Medical Association,the results were excellent for 64 fingers,good for 6 fingers and fair for 2 fingers in group A,with a satisfactory rate of 97.2％.In group B 62 fingers were rated as excellent,10 as good and 4 as fair,with a satisfactory rate of 94.7％.The success rate in group C was 86.7％,with 7 fingers achieving excellent results,6 fingers good results and 2 fingers fair results.Functional recovery was significantly better in group A and B than in group C,while no difference was found between group A and B. Conclusion Replantation of fingers with degloving injury is feasible and also can restore the function and shape of the fingers if the degloved skin is still intact. Key words: Finger injuries; Replantation; Surgical flaps; Treatment outcome