Absorbable Sutures and Telemedicine for Patients Undergoing Trigger Finger Release

Area of Science:

• Orthopedic Surgery
• Hand Surgery
• Minimally Invasive Procedures

Background:

• The COVID-19 pandemic necessitates reduced in-person clinic visits for surgical procedures.
• Developing telemedicine-based follow-up protocols is crucial for maintaining patient care and safety.
• Trigger finger release is a common procedure where alternative follow-up strategies can be explored.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the outcomes of trigger finger release using different suture types and follow-up visit strategies.
• To assess the feasibility of implementing telemedicine-based follow-up protocols for trigger finger release patients.
• To compare clinical outcomes between traditional and novel care pathways.

Main Methods:

• Retrospective review of 329 patients undergoing trigger finger release.
• Classification of patients based on in-office follow-up, suture type (absorbable vs. non-absorbable), and telemedicine use.
• Univariate statistical analysis to compare outcomes between different patient groups.

Main Results:

• Patients without in-office follow-up had higher rates of residual stiffness (11.4% vs. 4.1%) but similar complication rates otherwise.
• Absorbable sutures were associated with more telemedicine visits and wound complaints (17.9% vs. 8.5%).
• No significant differences in pain, reoperation, emergency department returns, or Quick DASH scores were found between telemedicine/absorbable suture protocol and other methods.

Conclusions:

• An absorbable suture and telemedicine protocol for trigger finger release achieves comparable clinical outcomes to traditional methods.
• Telemedicine follow-up may increase the risk of residual stiffness without impacting other major complications.
• Absorbable sutures may lead to lower patient satisfaction regarding surgical wound healing.