Reconstruction of Soft Tissue Defects of Upper Extremity

Authors

  • Moeez Fatima
  • Faisal Akhlaq Ali Khan

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: This study aims to evaluate the etiology of upper extremity soft tissue defects and determine the outcome of the various methods for covering upper limb soft tissue defects.
METHODOLOGY: This case series study was done at the Plastic and reconstructive Surgery department Civil Hospital, Karachi, from December 2018 to May 2019. Seventy-six cases were operated on in the department of plastic surgery. All patients with upper extremity defects with or without exposed bone, open fractures, and early presentation were included. Segmental bone defects, dirty wounds and patient’s denial of consent were excluded. The mechanism of injury, association with fractures and the method of fixation was documented. Radiographic images were taken. Further, the functional and aesthetic outcome was assessed. Performa data has been analyzed using SPSS 21.
RESULTS: The mean age of the patient was 33±10.87 years. Road traffic accidents 32.89% and machine cut injuries 31.58% were the commonest etiologies of upper limb defects. Postburn contracture was seen in 10.53%, secondary to debridement at 13.16%, secondary to fasciotomy at 3.95%, secondary to flap harvest at 6.58%, and secondary to tumor resection at 1.32%. 33(43.42%) upper limb defects were treated by grafting, and flaps were used in 43(56.58%).
CONCLUSION: Road traffic accidents and machine cut injuries are the main etiological factors of upper extremity defects. Grafting and flaps are used in the management of soft tissue defects. They have relatively low complication rates, provided that all measures should be taken to eliminate soft tissue or bone infection.
KEYWORDS: Soft tissue defect, Upper extremity defects, soft tissue coverage, Flaps for upper limb, Upper extremity reconstruction, Upper limb trauma.

Downloads

Published

02-01-2023

How to Cite

1.
Fatima M, Khan FAA. Reconstruction of Soft Tissue Defects of Upper Extremity. J Liaq Uni Med Health Sci [Internet]. 2023 Jan. 2 [cited 2024 Dec. 27];21(04):258-63. Available from: http://ojs.lumhs.edu.pk/index.php/jlumhs/article/view/833

Issue

Vol. 21 No. 04 (2022): Journal of Liaquat University of Medical & Health Sciences

Section

Original Articles

License

Copyright (c) 2023 Journal of Liaquat University of Medical & Health Sciences

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Submission of a manuscript to the journal implies that all authors have read and agreed to the content of the undertaking form or the Terms and Conditions.

When an article is accepted for publication, the author(s) retain the copyright and are required to grant the publisher the right of first publication and other non-exclusive publishing rights to JLUMHS.

Articles published in the Journal of Liaquat University of Medical & health sciences are open access articles under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial - Share Alike 4.0 License. This license permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium; provided the original work is properly cited and initial publication in this journal. This is in accordance with the BOAI definition of open access. In addition to that users are allowed to remix, tweak and build upon the work non-commercially as long as appropriate credit is given and the new creations are licensed under the identical terms. Or, in certain cases it can be stated that all articles and content there in are published under creative commons license unless stated otherwise.