Assessment of treatment result of soft tissue defects of fingers by local pedicle flap

Abstract

Background: The hands, especially fingers, are one of the nicest organs in the bodies movement system and participate in most daily activities. It performs the function of sophisticated movement and good touch. Thus, the risk of hand injury, especially digital defects is very high. Besides, the defects after removing the contracture scar, if treatment is not done well, will leave sequelae affecting the function and aesthetics of the hand. Subject and method: The uncontrolled clinical interventional study on 39 patients with 41 soft tissue defects of fingers reconstructed by the local pedicle flap in Plastic - Comestic - Hand Departement, Hue Central Hospital. Result: In 41 flaps used, there were 100% cases of flap survived, ensuring the coverage function, including 8/41 flap congested in the postoperative period, 1/41 flap infected with flap’s margin, There were no failed cases requiring additional recovery surgery. In all cases, the donor area of the flap healed well in the first stage (31/41 in cases of skin grafting in the flap, 10/41 in the cases that can be sutured to close the donor area directly). The 1-month follow-up results showed that 82.9% of flaps achieved good results, 17.1% of flaps achieved average results, there were no cases of bad results and failures. The results of the 3-month follow-up were 87.8% with good results and 12.2% with moderate results. All of the patients were satisfied with the surgical results. Conclusion: There are many options of flaps available for use in finger soft-tissue defect contouring, flexibility is needed in using flaps for each type of defect to provide the best results in terms of coverage and aesthetics. Key words: finger soft-tissue defect, local pedicle flap.