Surgical Management of Post Burn Hand Deformities.

Area of Science:

• Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery
• Burn Management
• Hand Surgery

Background:

• Post-burn contractures of the hand significantly impair function and quality of life.
• Various surgical techniques exist for managing hand contractures, each with varying success rates.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compare the efficacy of different surgical procedures for treating post-burn hand contractures.
• To identify the most effective surgical intervention for contracture release and recurrence prevention.

Main Methods:

• A quasi-experimental study involving 93 patients with burned hand contractures.
• Surgical interventions included skin grafts (full-thickness and split-thickness) and loco-regional flaps.
• Patients were followed for 90 days post-surgery to assess outcomes.

Main Results:

• Full-thickness skin graft (FTSG) was the most common procedure (60.2%).
• Cross finger flaps had a 25% recurrence rate, while Z-plasties and posterior interosseous flaps showed no recurrence.
• A significant association was found between surgical procedure and recurrence (p<0.05).

Conclusions:

• Z-plasty followed by FTSG is an effective surgical strategy for post-burn hand contractures.
• This combined approach demonstrated superior outcomes in preventing recurrence compared to other methods.