Keywords
hand injury
tendon injury
neurovascular injury
How to Cite
Abstract
Introduction: Hand injuries are the most complex injuries when compared to other bodily injuries. A better understanding of the biological, behavioral, and socioeconomic risk factors that are associated with hand injuries is therefore needed. This data can help identify individuals at risk and define preventive measures to help reduce the incidence.
Material and Methods: We present a study of 350 consecutive patients of hand injury treated between 2017- 2018. The demographic profile of the patient along with the type & cause of the injury sustained, hand dominance, type of procedure, and requirement of hospital administration was extracted from hospital records.
Results: 159 (45.5%) of the patients were in the age group of fewer than 20 years. Out of the 350 patients, 288 (82%) were male. 302 (86%) patients were right-handed. The most common mode of injury was machine injury in 205 (59%) patients. 181 (52%) patients had crush injury, 107 (31%) had the sharp cut injury, and 32 (9%) had blast injury. 94 (27%) patients needed hospital admission for management. 119 ( 34%) patients had the injury to the thumb, 89 (25%) had injury to the middle finger. Primary suturing was done in 116 (33%) patients, tendon and nerve repair in 209 (60%), and 177 (51%) patients respectively.
Conclusions: The study describes the demography and etiology of the cases of hand injury. The study has a limitation of having absence of assessment of functional outcome. There is a necessity of hand trauma registry to quantify the burden of hand injuries and formulate a prevention strategy at the national level.
References
Ghiya MN, Murty S, Shetty N, D'Cunha R. A descriptive study of hand injuries presenting to the adult emergency department of a tertiary care center in urban India. J Emerg Trauma Shock. 2017;10:19-25.
Larsen, C.F., Mulder, S., Johansen, A.M.T., and Stam C. The Epidemiology of hand injuries in the Netherland and Denmark. European Journal of Epidemiology. 2004; 19, 323-327.
Aksan, A.D., Ada, R.D.S., Kayalar, M., Aksu, F. and Bal, E. Epidemiology of injuries treated at a hand and Microsurgery Hospital. Acta Orthopaedica et Traumatologica Turcica. 2010; 44 (5), 352-360.
Ghosh S, Sinha RK, Datta S, Chaudhuri A, Dey C, Singh A, et al. A study of hand injury and emergency management in a developing country. Int J Crit Illn Inj Sci. 2013;3:229-34.
Graham TJ. The exploded hand syndrome: logical evaluation and comprehensive treatment of the severely crushed hand. J Hand Surg. 2006; 31A:1012–1023.
Sandzen SC., Jr Crush injuries of the hand and fingers. I. Med Trial Tech Q. 1972; 19:144–151.
Samuel CH, Jason AC, David GD, Alexander YS. The economic impact of electrical saw injuries to the hand. J Hand Surg. 2009; 34A:886–889.
Rea S, Jones D, Eadie PA. Establishing a plastic surgery trauma clinic. Ir Med J. 2004; 97(4):106–107.
Murphy SM, Whately K, Eadie PA, Orr DJ. Unnecessary inter-hospital referral of minor hand injuries: a continuing problem. Ir J Med Sci. 2010; 179:123–125.
Packer GJ, Shaheen MA. Patterns of hand fractures and dislocations in a district general hospital. J Hand Surg British European. 1993; 18(4):511-4.
Gupta A, Gupta AK, Uppal SK, Mittal RK, Garg R, Aggarwal N. Demographic profile of hand injuries in an industrial town of North India: a review of 436 patients. Indian J Surg. 2013; 75(6):454-61.
Trybus M, Tusinski M, Guzik P. Alcohol-related hand injuries. Injury. 2005; 36(10):1237-40.
Hung LK, Choi KY, Yip K, Chan J, Leung PC. Recent changes in the pattern of hand injuries in Hong Kong: a regional hospital survey. HKMJ. 1997; 3(2):141-8.
Hultman CS, Erfanian K, Fraser J, Thornton SJ, Calvert CS, Cairns BA. Comprehensive management of hot-press hand injuries: long-term outcomes following reconstruction and rehabilitation. Ann Plast Surg. 2010; 64:553–558.
Larsen CF, Mulder S, Johansen AMT, Stam C. The Epidemiology of hand injuries in the Netherlands and Denmark. European J Epidemiology. 2004; 19(4):323-7.
Banhiam Carey Kharrngi, Darpanarayan Hazra et. A retrospective study on the clinical profile of patients with open hand injury presenting to the emergency department of a tertiary care center in South India. Current medical issues journal. 2019; 17; 98-102.
Dr. Bhargav Desai, Dr. Harsha Makwana et al. Epidemiology of hand injuries in adults presenting to a tertiary trauma care center: A descriptive study. International Journal of Orthopaedics Sciences. 2018; 4(1): 434-438.
Bajracharya S, Shrestha S. Epidemiology of hand injuries in a tertiary care center. Journal of the universal college of medical sciences. 2017; 5(16): 35-39.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.