Objective:To investigate a surgical method and clinical outcomes of a fascia pedicled island flap with dorsal branch of proper palmar digital nerve in reconstruction of defects of digital pulp.Methods:Seventy-five patients who had digital pulp defects and treated at Department of Orthopaedics, Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps Alar Hospital, Shaw Hospital Affiliated Zhejiang University School of Medicine, from December 2019 to December 2022, were retrospectively analysed. The patients were 40 males and 35 females aged 25-61 years with an average age of 42 years. The defects of digital pulp involved in 23 thumbs, 15 per group of index fingers, middle fingers and ring fingers, and 7 little fingers. The digital pulp defects were 0.8 cm×0.9 cm to 1.5 cm×2.1 cm in size, and the sizes of flap were 1.0 cm×1.2 cm to 1.8 cm×2.4 cm. Donor sites were covered by medium-thickness skin grafts and pressurised bandage was applied. Clinical outcomes of the surgery were monitored through the postoperative follow-ups at outpatient clinic, WeChat and telephone reviews.Results:Postoperative follow-up ranged 9 to 15 months, with an average of 12 months. The donor sites and skin grafts all achieved stage-I healing. Seventy-three flaps completely survived after surgery. However, 2 flaps had partial necrosis, which healed after dressing changes, 4 flaps encountered flap bruising and swelling, which were rectified by removal of high-tension sutures, and 7 flaps had tension blisters, which had disappeared in 2 weeks. At the final follow-up, the appearance and texture of the flaps were graded as excellent for 54 flaps and good for 21 flaps, all without pale, cyanotic or dark in colour. Forty-nine flaps showed normal elasticity or with slight atrophy, 24 with mild atrophy, 2 with moderate atrophy and none with obvious or severe atrophy. Mobility of the affected digits was rated as excellent for 57 digits (average 42.3°), good for 12 (average 26.7°) and fair in 6 digits (average 16.3°). TPD of flap surfaces ranged 6 to 11 mm, with an average of 8.1 mm. Digital function were evaluated according to the Evaluation Trial Standards of Upper Limb Partial Functional of Hand Surgery of Chinese Medical Association, with 48 digits in excellent (average 11.2 points), 22 in good (average 8.1 points) and 5 in fair (average 5.4 points) and with a combined excellence and good rates of 93.33%. All flap donor sites were in normal function. For patient satisfaction: 53 patients were well satisfied, 21 were fairly satisfied and 1 was dissatisfied.Conclusion:Application of the island flap with dorsal branch of proper palmar digital nerve with fascio-pedicled in reconstruction of the defect of digital pulp has a high survival rate, simple surgical operation, good satisfactory outcome, with the digital artery being remained intact.

Objective:To investigate a surgical method and clinical outcomes of a fascia pedicled island flap with dorsal branch of proper palmar digital nerve in reconstruction of defects of digital pulp.Methods:Seventy-five patients who had digital pulp defects and treated at Department of Orthopaedics, Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps Alar Hospital, Shaw Hospital Affiliated Zhejiang University School of Medicine, from December 2019 to December 2022, were retrospectively analysed. The patients were 40 males and 35 females aged 25-61 years with an average age of 42 years. The defects of digital pulp involved in 23 thumbs, 15 per group of index fingers, middle fingers and ring fingers, and 7 little fingers. The digital pulp defects were 0.8 cm×0.9 cm to 1.5 cm×2.1 cm in size, and the sizes of flap were 1.0 cm×1.2 cm to 1.8 cm×2.4 cm. Donor sites were covered by medium-thickness skin grafts and pressurised bandage was applied. Clinical outcomes of the surgery were monitored through the postoperative follow-ups at outpatient clinic, WeChat and telephone reviews.Results:Postoperative follow-up ranged 9 to 15 months, with an average of 12 months. The donor sites and skin grafts all achieved stage-I healing. Seventy-three flaps completely survived after surgery. However, 2 flaps had partial necrosis, which healed after dressing changes, 4 flaps encountered flap bruising and swelling, which were rectified by removal of high-tension sutures, and 7 flaps had tension blisters, which had disappeared in 2 weeks. At the final follow-up, the appearance and texture of the flaps were graded as excellent for 54 flaps and good for 21 flaps, all without pale, cyanotic or dark in colour. Forty-nine flaps showed normal elasticity or with slight atrophy, 24 with mild atrophy, 2 with moderate atrophy and none with obvious or severe atrophy. Mobility of the affected digits was rated as excellent for 57 digits (average 42.3°), good for 12 (average 26.7°) and fair in 6 digits (average 16.3°). TPD of flap surfaces ranged 6 to 11 mm, with an average of 8.1 mm. Digital function were evaluated according to the Evaluation Trial Standards of Upper Limb Partial Functional of Hand Surgery of Chinese Medical Association, with 48 digits in excellent (average 11.2 points), 22 in good (average 8.1 points) and 5 in fair (average 5.4 points) and with a combined excellence and good rates of 93.33%. All flap donor sites were in normal function. For patient satisfaction: 53 patients were well satisfied, 21 were fairly satisfied and 1 was dissatisfied.Conclusion:Application of the island flap with dorsal branch of proper palmar digital nerve with fascio-pedicled in reconstruction of the defect of digital pulp has a high survival rate, simple surgical operation, good satisfactory outcome, with the digital artery being remained intact.