[Review of 30 digital ring avulsions]

Thirty cases of digital avulsions caused by a ring have were reviewed after a period of eighteen months. The average age of the patients was 30 years, ranging from 5 to 60 years. Fourteen vascular survivals were obtained. In this series the ring finger was the most frequently affected one (21 cases). In 20 cases, the people involved were long distance lorry drivers. The operating techniques were direct micro arterial and venous anastomosis in 2 cases, and isolated arterial bypass grafts in 6 cases, combined arterial and venous bypass graft in 18 cases. No surviving finger was amputated, but 3 patients, including 2 women, asked the amputation of an unsightly stump. This series confirms the extreme seriousness of digital avulsion caused by rings and the value of a microsurgical treatment of vascular lesions by anastomosis or by arterial and venous bypass grafts from stage 2 onwards.