[Complex hand injuries. Therapeutic management (author's transl)]

Defined by severe injuries of several digital structures and by lesions of several axes, complex hand injuries raise numerous problems of management. The activity of the unit "S.O.S. Hand-Reimplantation" of the Boucicaut Hospital petmitted us to determine the various clinical and socio-professional aspects. In the first part of this article, a statistical study permitted us to define the classes, types and prognosis. In the second part, the repair of each digital structure is considered (skin, bone, joint, extensors, flexors, nerves, vessels) in the light of a complex hand injury. The role of the covering skin in the quality of the results seems very important. The long-term results, their socio-professional consequences, thus permit one to draw up a therapeutic management which aims to repair the maximum number of lesions during the first stage of the operation. The interest of microsurgical repairs of the vessels and nerves requires operation of these complex hand injuries as an emergency, which requires appropriate surgical facilities.