Surgical correction of claw fingers in leprosy using flexor superficialis direct lasso procedure.

ABSTRACT

One tendon of Flexor digitorum superficialis split into two or four tails and each tail looped around the A1 pulley of one affected finger, was used for correcting intrinsic minus deformity of fingers in 144 patients. This operation has the advantage of retaining superficialis tendons of the other fingers for better power grip and avoiding swan-neck deformity. Satisfactory results were noticed in 81 of the 99 patients (82%) followed up. The remaining 18 patients showed a variety of problems such as swan neck/check rein deformity in the donor finger, skin contracture and recurrence of clawing.