OBJECTIVE: To study the characteristics of forensic identification of phalangeal fracture and to use a combination of medical records, imaging materials, and forensic examination data in identification. METHODS: Fifty cases of phalangeal fracture involved in the forensic identification were collected from 2009 to 2011. The general situation, the distribution of fracture, the fracture morphology, the injury-causing objects and the results of identification were analyzed retrospectively. RESULTS: Majority of the cases of phalangeal fracture were young and middle-aged men. The index finger and distal phalanx fractures were common. There was no difference in the number of phalangeal fracture between left and right hand. Most of the injury-causing objects were knives and sticks, followed by bricks and stones. CONCLUSION The injury-causing objects and modes are related to the morphology of fracture, the distribution of fracture and the severity of the injury. The comprehensive analysis is helpful in forensic identification of phalangeal fracture.
Adolescent ; Adult ; Age Distribution ; Aged ; Diagnosis, Differential ; Female ; Finger Injuries/pathology* ; Finger Phalanges/pathology* ; Forensic Medicine ; Fractures, Bone/pathology* ; Fractures, Comminuted/pathology* ; Humans ; Injury Severity Score ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Retrospective Studies ; Sex Distribution ; Young Adult

OBJECTIVETo employ reverse first dorsal metatarsal artery island flap to recover the donor site of great toe after free lateral pulp flap transfer, and decrease the morbidity of microsurgical donor site.

METHODSFrom February 2000 to June 2004, 12 cases of soft tissue defect in thumb and finger were treated by free lateral pulp flap of great toe transplantation, and that the secondary defect of great toes were repaired by reverse first dorsal metatarsal artery flap according to the anatomical communicating between first dorsal metatarsal artery and plantar metatarsal artery. The donor exposure of dorsal pedis were straightly sutured.

RESULTSAll the lateral pulp flaps of great toe and the reversed first dorsal metatarsal flaps survived uneventfully with desirable appearance and sensation. In thumb and finger defect reconstructed with lateral pulp flaps of the great toe, there was in mean static two-point discrimination of 6 mm at 10 month follow-up, that was 10 mm in reverse flaps.

CONCLUSIONSIt is an instructive and practical creation to adopt the reverse first dorsal metatarsal artery flap to recover the raw surface in the lateral aspect of the great toe, which minimizes the morbidity at the donor site and gains the twin-win results.

Adolescent ; Adult ; Arteries ; transplantation ; Female ; Finger Injuries ; surgery ; Humans ; Male ; Metatarsus ; blood supply ; Middle Aged ; Soft Tissue Injuries ; surgery ; Surgical Flaps ; pathology ; Young Adult