 |
Case Series
Heterodigital neurovascular island flap is a sensible solution for severe soft tissue defect of the thumb: A case series
1 Staff of Department of Orthopaedic and Traumatology, Faculty of Medicine and Nursing, Yogyakarta, Indonesia
2 Resident of Department of Orthopaedic and Traumatology, Faculty of Medicine and Nursing, Yogyakarta, Indonesia
Address correspondence to:
Reza Muttaqien
Resident of Department of Orthopaedic and Traumatology, Faculty of Medicine and Nursing, Yogyakarta 55211,
Indonesia
Message to Corresponding Author
Article ID: 100015O03M2019
Access full text article on other devices
Access PDF of article on other devices
How to cite this article
Meirizal, Muttaqien R. Heterodigital neurovascular island flap is a sensible solution for severe soft tissue defect of the thumb: A case series. Edorium J Orthop 2019;5:100015O03M2019.ABSTRACT
Introduction: The thumb plays a major role in hand function. Injury to the thumb greatly affects the function of the hands compared to the injury occurring to other fingers. Efforts to bring back thumb’s mobility, length, stability, and sensory properties after hand trauma are of extreme priority. Devascularized digits with segmental skin and vessel loss require revascularization and resurfacing. This can be done by using the heterodigital vascular island flap which gives appropriately sized pristine artery of optimal length for revascularization and provides simultaneous skin cover. Reconstructive objectives are preserving the length, restoring function, sensation, and presentation. The disadvantage from the flap is the probability of cold intolerance in the digit from loss of pedicle artery.
Case Report: We report two cases in which heterodigital neurovascular island flap was used. Primary wound healing was achieved in all patients with good functional recovery of the thumb, acceptable donor site morbidity, and improvement in hand functional scoring based on Quick DASH.
Conclusion: The heterodigital neurovascular island flap is excellent both aesthetically and functionally for reconstruction of the thumb defect.
Keywords: Heterodigital neurovascular island flap, Thumb defect, Thumb reconstruction, Quick DASH
SUPPORTING INFORMATION
Author Contributions
Meirizal - Substantial contributions to conception and design, Acquisition of data, Analysis of data, Interpretation of data, Drafting the article, Revising it critically for important intellectual content, Final approval of the version to be published
Reza Muttaqien - Substantial contributions to conception and design, Acquisition of data, Analysis of data, Interpretation of data, Drafting the article, Revising it critically for important intellectual content, Final approval of the version to be published
Source of SupportNone
Consent StatementWritten informed consent was obtained from the patient for publication of this article.
Data AvailabilityAll relevant data are within the paper and its Supporting Information files.
Conflict of InterestAuthors declare no conflict of interest.
Copyright© 2019 Meirizal et al. This article is distributed under the terms of Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium provided the original author(s) and original publisher are properly credited. Please see the copyright policy on the journal website for more information.
