[Crush injuries of the hand.].
BACKGROUND
To carry out a pilot study on the epidemiology of the crush injuries of the hand in our country and to obtain valuable data that will be used for construction of a protective program in the future.


METHODS
124 patients with crush hand injuries were observed retrospectively based on medical records in terms of age, sex, field of work, parts of body affected by the injury, mechanism and underlying causes of the injury


RESULTS
Most of the patients were in 0-18 year- age group and inserting the hand into the working machine was the leading cause of injuries. Eighty seven male (70,16% ) and 37 (29,84 %) female patients were included in the study. Most of the patients (44,1%) were working in wood industry at the time of the accident. Interestingly only one hand of all patients were injured. Most commonly injured finger was the middle finger. Most commonly encountered pathology was the tendon laceration in injured fingers.


CONCLUSIONS
Most of the cases were due to lack of attention and education and could be prevented by simple precautions and by wide-spread work education programs leading to a marked decrease in health expenses and loss of man power.
Unlü
Ramazan Erkin
RE
Ankara Numune Teaching and Research Hospital, II Clinics of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Ankara, Turkey.
Abacı Ünlü
Elmas
E
Orbay
Hakan
H
Sensöz
Omer
O
Ortak
Turgut
T
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006230:Hand Injuries / Q000209:etiology* / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000601:surgery; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D055815:Young Adult