• Department of Hand Surgery, Ningbo No.6 Hospital, Ningbo Zhejiang, 315040, P.R.China;
WANG Xin, Email: dr.wangxin@hotmail.com
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Objective  To explore the causes of vascular crisis after thumb and other finger reconstruction by toe-to-hand transfer and effective treatment methods so as to improve the survival rate of transplanted tissues. Methods  Between February 2012 and October 2015, 59 cases of thumb and other finger defects were repaired with different hallux nail flaps with the same vascular pedicle flap to reconstruct thumb and other fingers and repair skin defect. The donor site was repaired by a perforator flap. A total of 197 free tissues were involved. There were 46 males and 13 females with the average age of 30.6 years (range, 18-42 years). Vascular crisis occurred in 21 free tissues (10.7%) of 17 patients, including 9 arterial crisis (4.6%) of 8 cases, and 12 venous crisis (6.1%) of 10 cases. Conservative treatment was performed first; in 8 free tissues of 7 cases after failure of conservative treatment, anastomotic thrombosis was found in 5 free tissues of 4 cases, twisted vascular pedicle in 1 free tissue of 1 case, surrounding hematoma in 1 free tissue of 1 case, and anastomotic thrombosis associated with hematoma in 1 free tissue of 1 case, which underwent clearing hematoma, resecting embolization, regulating vascular tension, re-anastomosis or vascular transplantation. Results  In 8 cases of arterial crisis, 5 free tissues of 5 cases survived after conservative treatment; partial necrosis occurred in 1 free tissue (1 case) of 4 free tissues (3 cases) undergoing surgical exploration. In 10 cases of venous crisis, 1 free tissue necrosis and 1 free tissue partial necrosis occurred in 8 free tissues (6 cases) undergoing conservative treatment; partial necrosis occurred in 1 free tissue of 4 free tissues (4 cases) undergoing surgical exploration. Free flap and skin graft were performed on 2 free tissues of 4 cases having flap necrosis respectively. Conclusion  Vascular crisis is complex and harmful to survival of transplanted tissue in reconstruction of the thumb and other fingers. Immediate intervention is helpful to obtain a higher survival rate.

Citation: ZHANG Jian, HUANG Jian, PAN Jiadong, ZHOU Danya, YIN Shanqing, LI Junjie, WANG Xin. Vascular crisis after multiple tissue transplantation for thumb and other finger reconstruction by toe-to-hand transfer. Chinese Journal of Reparative and Reconstructive Surgery, 2017, 31(3): 323-326. doi: 10.7507/1002-1892.201611030 Copy

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