Extensor Tendon Repair Outcomes Based on Zone of Injury.

Publisher: SAGE Publications Country of Publication: United States NLM ID: 101264149 Publication Model: Print-Electronic Cited Medium: Internet ISSN: 1558-9455 (Electronic) Linking ISSN: 15589447 NLM ISO Abbreviation: Hand (N Y) Subsets: MEDLINE

Publication: 2016- : Thousand Oaks, CA : SAGE Publications
Original Publication: New York, N.Y. : Springer, c2006-

Tendon Injuries*/surgery ; Finger Injuries*/surgery ; Suture Techniques*; Humans ; Retrospective Studies ; Male ; Female ; Middle Aged ; Adult ; Range of Motion, Articular ; Operative Time ; Aged ; Treatment Outcome ; Young Adult ; Adolescent

Background: The purpose of this study was to examine the clinical outcomes of extensor tendon repairs based on zone of injury.
Methods: A retrospective chart review was conducted on all patients who underwent primary extensor tendon repair at our institution. Extensor tendon repairs were performed using a multiple figure-of-8 suture technique for extensor zones 1-4 and a modified Kessler suture technique for extensor zones 5-8. Inclusion criteria included a minimum of 8 weeks of follow-up, complete data available for review, and extensor tendon injury requiring primary surgical repair.
Results: A total of 132 digits were included for analysis: 46 digits in zones 1-4 and 86 digits in zones 5-8. The operative time for zone 1-4 injuries averaged 88.96 minutes, and the operative time for zone 5-8 injuries averaged 114.42 minutes. Final extension was found to be 2.33° for zones 1-4 and 6.66° for zones 5-8. Final flexion was found to be 141.4° for zones 1-4 and 195.3° for zones 5-8. There was 1 infection identified in zones 1-4 and 7 in zones 5-8.
Conclusions: Surgically repaired extensor tendons in zones 1-4 were found to have a statistically significant worse final flexion compared with surgically repaired extensor tendons in zones 5-8. No significant differences were found in final extension, complication rates, and time to full activity. Operative times for zone 5-8 tendon repairs were found to be significantly longer than operative times for zone 1-4 repairs, possibly due to more complex injury patterns seen in the more proximal zones.
Competing Interests: Declaration of Conflicting InterestsThe author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

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Keywords: anatomy; basic science; diagnosis; digits; forearm; hand; soft tissue reconstruction; tendon; trauma

Date Created: 20230203 Date Completed: 20240728 Latest Revision: 20240820

20240821

PMC11284996

10.1177/15589447221150510

36734256