Modified "on-top-plasty" technique for restoring length to amputation stumps.

Five patients were successfully treated with a modified "on-top-plasty" technique, in which a finger stump is lengthened by transfer of an adjacent amputation stump with a reverse blood flow fingerstump. This technique can be performed in the acute phase or as a secondary procedure. A conventional on-top-plasty can be performed by transfer of a partially amputated index or ring finger to the "top" of the proximal phalanx of an amputated middle finger. Alternatively, the transferred part may be used in an intercalated fashion to reconstruct the middle phalanx, using a prosthesis to reconstruct the proximal interphalangeal joint. The results, complications and disadvantages of the technique are reported. We propose this procedure for the reconstruction of the middle ring finger when a free microneurovascular toe-to-hand transfer is contraindicated or refused by the patient.

[Gunshot injuries of the face. Analysis of 165 cases and reevaluation of the primary treatment]. / Traumatismes faciaux par arme de chasse à canon lisse. Analyse d'une série de 165 cas et réévaluation du traitement primaire.

Our large experience of shotgun injuries to the face emphasizes the need for a reappraisal of primary treatment for this poorly documented topic. The medical records of 165 patients, treated at our institution between january 1st, 1982 and december, 31st 1996 for such an injury, were reviewed. Almost all cases were exclusively self-inflicted lesions. The guns were mainly twelve-gauge and occasionally 16 or 20-gauge. Close range wounds in an heterogeneous area--soft-tissue, mandible, muscles of the tongue and floor of the mouth, oral and nasal cavities, maxilla and paranasal sinuses--caused massive damage. A topographic classification based on the soft-tissue and bone loss is reported. After initial management (including securing the airway and control of bleeding), conservative debridement of all devitalized tissues and stabilization of the fractures were performed. As soon as possible, bone and soft tissue reconstruction was undertaken using local or distant flaps. However, immediate definitive reconstructive procedures were scarcely [corrected] used and only in particular cases. We believe that a carefully planned reconstruction schedule is required to achieve satisfactory appearance and function.