[An improved technique for repairing hand defects with abdominal pedicled flaps].
OBJECTIVE
To explore the feasibility a modified method for repairing hand soft tissue defects using abdominal pedicle flaps.


METHODS
Between January 1997 and October 2010, abdominal pedicle flaps were used to repair hand soft tissue defects in 108 cases. A strategy of segmented skin-flap ligations was adopted for early pedicle cut-off with early separation of the combined fingers, donor site closure with auxiliary flaps and application of thin flap and full-thickness skin graft.


RESULTS
Ligation of the pedicle site only was performed in 68 cases with an average time of pedicle cut-off of 10 days. Pedicle cut-off and separation of the combined fingers were simultaneously performed in 40 cases without flap necrosis. The healing rate of the donor sites reached 96.8%.


CONCLUSIONS
The method is simple, safe and reliable and allows simultaneous pedicle cut-off and separation of the combined fingers to ensure good functional and appearance recovery of the hand with soft tissue defect.
Department of Burn Surgery, 180 Hospital of PLA, Quanzhou, China. hsr180yy@163.com
Shu-run
SR
Huang
Xiao-yi
XY
Li
Hao
H
Wang
Jiang-tao
JT
Liu
D034861:Abdominal Wall; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002056:Burns / Q000601:surgery*; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006230:Hand Injuries / Q000601:surgery*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D019651:Plastic Surgery Procedures / Q000379:methods*; D017695:Soft Tissue Injuries / Q000601:surgery; D013524:Surgical Flaps; D055815:Young Adult