Abstract
Between 1977 and 1986, nine patients with an isolated ring avulsion injury were seen in the Orthopaedic Surgery Division of Hiroshima University School of Medicine. Eight fingers were reconstructed by use of microsurgical anastmosis. Five have been successfully revascularized, and useful motion and sense of the digits have been obtained. Three were treated by secondary amputation due to the necrosis of the digits and one by primary amputation.
Micosurgical revascularization has been particularly useful in salvaging incomplete ring avulsion injuries with insufficient vascular flow. Although complete ring avulsion injuries in general are thought to be poor candidates for microsurgical repair, these should be treated by replantation, in which it would be often necessary to shorten bone or use vein grafts.
