Repair of digital flexor tendon injuries in the hand

Summary This paper reviews 100 tendon repairs, of which sixty-eight were flexor tendon grafts of the fingers and eighteen were grafts of the thumb. The end results are tabulated and graphed. It is evident that good function can be obtained in the presence of a limited range of movement in some cases. Of the eighteen thumb grafts the average range was 182·9/135. No functional disability was claimed although the majority had both a reduced range of movement and a reduced span. Primary tendon grafting of the fingers is advocated in the presence of an incised wound of short duration. There were eleven patients in this series with a 72 per cent, successful end result. The half sublimis modification of tendon grafting is described and the indications for the use of this method. There were eighteen patients in this group with a successful end result in 77·8 per cent. There were thirty-nine secondary tendon grafts with a successful end result in 74·3 per cent. The total of successful end results in the three groups of finger grafts was 75 per cent.