Objective To summarize the injury characteristics of the whole hand degloving injury and to explore its classification and treatment. Methods Between December 1999 and May 2010, 41 cases of the whole hand degloving injury were admitted for treatment. There were 28 males and 13 females with an average age of 35 years (range, 18-58 years). The causesof injury included mangled injury in 28 cases and crush injury in 13 cases. The interval between injury and surgery was 1-10 hours (mean, 3 hours). According to self-made classification standard for whole hand degloving injury, 11 cases were rated as type I, 5 cases as type II, 4 cases as type III, 8 cases as type IV, and 13 cases as type V. Type I injury was treated by replantation surgery with vascular anastomosis, type II by reconstruction with thumb flap and the second toe containing dorsal skin flap, type III by reconstruction with the second toe containing dorsal skin flap of both feet, type IV by replantation surgery with vascular anastomosis, and type V by reconstruction with thumb flap containing dorsal skin flap (8 cases) or repairing with abdominal flap (5 cases). The size of the dorsal flap was between 9 cm × 6 cm and 17 cm × 11 cm and the dorsal donor site was covered with free skin grafting. Results After surgery, partial necrosis occurred at fingers in 6 patients with type I injury, and at fingers and palm skin in 6 patients with type IV injury; the flaps, the reconstructed fingers, and replanted skin all survived in the others. The grafted skin at donor sites successfully healed. Forty cases were followed up from 6 months to 7 years (mean, 14 months). The skin color and texture were close to normal hand in the cases undergoing replantation, who had the best function restoration with S2-S4 sensory recovery; the hand function was basically restored with S2-S3 sensory recovery in the cases undergoing finger reconstruction with thumb and toe flaps; and the restoration of the hand function was not satisfactory with S1-S2 sensory recovery in the cases undergoing abdominal flaps. Conclusion Whole hand degloving injury can be classified into different types according to injury degree and this will help choose the cl inical treatment plan. The appropriate treatment based on these types can obtain better cl inical effectiveness.
Objective?To investigate the surgical method and clinical efficacy of repairing whole-hand destructive injury or hand degloving injury with the transplant of pedis compound free flap.?Methods?From February 2003 to June 2008, 21 patients with whole-hand destructive injury or hand degloving injury were treated, including 15 males and 6 females aged 18-45 years old (average 25 years old). The injury was caused by punching machine crush in 10 cases, roller crush in 7 cases, and imprinter crush in 4 cases. The time between injury and operation was 1-9 hours. Eleven cases had the skin-degloving injury of the whole hand, while the other 10 cases had the proximal palm injury combined with dorsal or palmar skin and soft tissue defect. After debridement, the size of wound was 9 cm × 7 cm - 15 cm × 10 cm in the dorsal aspect and 10 cm × 7 cm -16 cm × 10 cm in the palmar aspect. The defect was repaired by the thumbnail flap of dorsalis pedis flap and the second toenail flap of dorsalis pedis flap in 5 cases, the thumbnail flap of dorsalis pedis flap and the second toe with dorsalis pedis flap in 4 cases, and bilateral second toe with dorsalis pedis flap in 12 cases. The flap area harvested during operation ranged from 6 cm × 5 cm to 16 cm × 11 cm. Three fingers were constructed in 2 cases and two fingers in 19 cases. Distal interphalangeal joint toe amputation was conducted in the thumbnail flap donor site, metatarsophalangeal joint toe amputation was performed in the second toenail flap donor site, and full-thickness skin grafting was conducted in the abdomen.?Results?At 7 days after operation, the index finger in 1 case repaired by the second toenail flap suffered from necrosis and received amputation, 1 case suffered from partial necrosis of distal dorsalis pedis flap and recovered after dressing change, and the rest 42 tissue flaps survived. Forty-three out of 44 reconstructed fingers survived. All the wounds healed by first intention. At 2 weeks after operation, 2 cases had partial necrosis of the donor site flap and underwent secondary skin grafting after dressing change, the rest skin grafts survived, and all the wounds healed by first intention. Nineteen cases were followed up for 6-36 months (average 11 months). The flaps of palm and dorsum of hand showed no swelling, the reconstructed fingers had a satisfactory appearance and performed such functions as grabbing, grasping, and nipping. The sensory of the flaps and the reconstructed fingers recovered to S2-S4 grade. The donor site on the dorsum of the foot had no obvious scar contracture, without obvious influence on walking.?Conclusion?For the whole-hand destructive injury or hand degloving injury, the method of transplanting pedis compound free flap can repair the defect in the hand and reconstruct the function of the injured hand partially. It is an effective treatment method.