Advancement fingertip homodigital neurovascular island flaps of long fingers. About 32 cases

Aim. - Evaluation of reconstruction results using a homodigital neurovascular island flap so as to recover long fingers loss fingertip. Patients and methods. - This was a retrospective study of 32 fingertip-flaps of long fingers practiced on 31 patients. They were young people (mean age: 28 years), often male (77.5%), and manual workers in 55%. The loss fingertip was traumatic in 87%. The fingertip reconstruction has been urgently assured, except in three initially-treated whitlow cases. Results. - Four criteria value were used to value the results of coverage: Aesthetic, sensitive, functional, and socio-professional. We obtained good results in 72%. Conclusion. - The homodigital neurovascular island flap is a simple and reproducible technique. It's an excellent method for fingertip reconstruction in Allen type II and III. Despite of some complications, in touch with the initial trauma, this surgery gives back a useful sensitivity and a good aesthetic aspect of the fingertip. (C) 2011 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.