Objective To explore the causes of vascular crisis after thumb and other finger reconstruction by toe-to-hand transfer and effective treatment methods so as to improve the survival rate of transplanted tissues. Methods Between February 2012 and October 2015, 59 cases of thumb and other finger defects were repaired with different hallux nail flaps with the same vascular pedicle flap to reconstruct thumb and other fingers and repair skin defect. The donor site was repaired by a perforator flap. A total of 197 free tissues were involved. There were 46 males and 13 females with the average age of 30.6 years (range, 18-42 years). Vascular crisis occurred in 21 free tissues (10.7%) of 17 patients, including 9 arterial crisis (4.6%) of 8 cases, and 12 venous crisis (6.1%) of 10 cases. Conservative treatment was performed first; in 8 free tissues of 7 cases after failure of conservative treatment, anastomotic thrombosis was found in 5 free tissues of 4 cases, twisted vascular pedicle in 1 free tissue of 1 case, surrounding hematoma in 1 free tissue of 1 case, and anastomotic thrombosis associated with hematoma in 1 free tissue of 1 case, which underwent clearing hematoma, resecting embolization, regulating vascular tension, re-anastomosis or vascular transplantation. Results In 8 cases of arterial crisis, 5 free tissues of 5 cases survived after conservative treatment; partial necrosis occurred in 1 free tissue (1 case) of 4 free tissues (3 cases) undergoing surgical exploration. In 10 cases of venous crisis, 1 free tissue necrosis and 1 free tissue partial necrosis occurred in 8 free tissues (6 cases) undergoing conservative treatment; partial necrosis occurred in 1 free tissue of 4 free tissues (4 cases) undergoing surgical exploration. Free flap and skin graft were performed on 2 free tissues of 4 cases having flap necrosis respectively. Conclusion Vascular crisis is complex and harmful to survival of transplanted tissue in reconstruction of the thumb and other fingers. Immediate intervention is helpful to obtain a higher survival rate.
Objective To explore the clinical application and effect of infrared thermal imager in blood flow monitoring after skin flap surgery by comparing with skin-contact thermometer. Methods Fifty patients who had undergone flap repair in the microsurgery ward of Shanghai Sixth People’s Hospital Affiliated to Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine between October 2019 and October 2020 were enrolled. An infrared thermal imager (FLIR ONE Pro) and a skin-contact thermometer were applied to monitor the skin temperature change till 7 d after surgery. The time consumed of using infrared thermal imager and skin-contact thermometer by different nurses, the efficacy of flap temperature monitoring of the two devices, the temperatures at different time points by using the two devices, and the temperatures under different distances to the flaps by using infrared thermal imager were compared. Results Different nurses had no difference in operating either of the two devices (P>0.05). It took significantly less time to measure the temperature of the flap area with the infrared thermal imager than using skin-contact thermometer [(39.28±3.52) vs. (103.85±9.09) s, P<0.001]. The skin temperature measured by the infrared thermal imager was significantly higher than that by the skin-contact thermometer (P<0.001), and the skin temperature measured by the infrared thermal imager at a height of 30 cm was higher than that at a height of 50 cm (P=0.006), but the temperature change amplitudes were both stable. Conclusions Infrared thermal imager is superior to skin-contact thermometer in terms of temperature measurement time, ease of operation, and sensitivity to temperature changes after skin flap operations. The thermal image collected by infrared thermal imager can provide an important basis for the identification of flap vascular crisis. It is a visual and objective blood supply monitoring equipment.