Prospective study of hand injuries in Government Royapettah Hospital

ABSTRACT

Background: Hands often get injured and can be incapacitating the patient if care is not given properly. Injury to hand leads to loss of function as well as deformity of body image which can cause a lot of psychological consequences. The objective of the study was to analyze the pattern of hand injuries encountered and to compare the functional recovery at first and third month after appropriate management.Methods: Totally 150 consecutive patients presenting with history of injury to hand or hands following road traffic accidents, industrial accidents, assault etc. are selected based on non-probability sampling method appropriate preliminary radiological and blood investigations were done and appropriate management was carried out to analyze the final outcomes. Results: Out of 150 cases in our study fingers contributed 121 (80.6%) of cases followed by palmar and dorsum of hand in about 26 cases (17.3%), wrist and forearm injuries contributing about 3 cases (2%). In fingers most of injuries occurred in third finger 35 cases (23.3%) followed by F2-28 (18.6%), F4-21 (14%), F5-20 (13.3%), thumb-17 (11.3%). Most injuries were in the left hand. required secondary procedures.Conclusions: Early presentation of patients and unlikely prehospital involvement of traditional bone setters reflect the great importance attached to hand injuries. Promotion of safety measures in the workplace and homes and prevention of road traffic crashes would help in reducing the incidence of hand injuries.