Perineural fat grafting in the treatment of painful end-neuromas of the upper limb: a pilot study

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness and middle-term durability of the results achieved with perineural fat grafting of painful neuromas of the upper limb. We retrospectively analysed eight patients, affected by eight neuromas, treated by neuroma excision and fat grafting around the proximal nerve stump. Clinical parameters, the disabilities of the arm shoulder and hand score, and the visual analogue scale were recorded at 2, 6 and 12 months after surgery. A reduction of 23.2% was observed in the mean disabilities of the arm shoulder and hand scores at 12 months. The spontaneous baseline visual analogue scale score showed a mean improvement of 22% at 12 months, although not this was not statistically significant. Perineural fat grafting is a quick and useful procedure and could represent a useful primary operation in the treatment of pain syndromes of neuropatic origin.