Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
ANNALS OF CLINICAL AND ANALYTICAL MEDICINE, cilt.16, sa.4, ss.260-264, 2025 (ESCI)
Aim: The goal of fingertip injury reconstructions should be mainly to restore the sensation of the tip with similar pulp volume, texture, and tissue preserving the contour. Regarding this aim, many flap techniques have been defined in the literature. Herein this manuscript, aimed to present and compare clinical outcomes of two different local flap procedures, hetero-digital artery island flap, reverse homo-digital artery island flap, widely used for the reconstruction of fingertip defects. Material and Methods: A 8-year prospectively followed-up, retrospectively statistical analyzed 83 patients undergoing reconstruction of fingertip defects of 2-5 digits by hetero-digital artery island flap (Group 1, n=56), reverse homo-digital artery island flap (Group 2, n=52) was performed. All participants were assessed using the Quick Disability of Arm, Shoulder, and Hand (Q-DASH) score, the cold intolerance symptom severity score (CISS), static 2-point discrimination, the time taken to return to work, and the range of motion (ROM) values for each operated finger joint. Results: The mean age of patients was 36.9 years with a male-to-female ratio of 2.6:1 and a mean follow-up of 26.72 months. There were no significant differences in average scores for Q-DASH, CISS, static 2-point discrimination, time to return to work, and DIP ROM between the study groups. However, the average ROM values for the PIP and MCP joints were significantly lower in Group 2 compared to Group 1. Discussion: The use of hetero-digital artery island flap for fingertip reconstruction is a reliable one-stage option in terms of improved ROM of finger joints. However, the surgical experience is of most importance to reduce postoperative morbidity of the procedure. Homo-digital artery island flap can be seen as another attractive option for less experienced surgeons with excellent postoperative results regarding DASH and CISS scores, static 2-point discrimination and time to return to work.