Abstract

Contractures of hand produce considerable morbidity. Despite improvements in the overall management of acute thermal injuries, contractures still occur and are the most common cause of skin contracture in hand. These are largely preventable by good initial care. We studied 24 consecutive patients of postburn contractures of hand treated at MGM Medical College, Aurangabad, Maharashtra, India, with the aim to evaluate the functional outcome. Age of patients ranged from 2 to 60 years. The right hand was affected in 10, left in 7 and both hands in 7. Average total body surface area burned was 10.15%. The flame burn was a major cause of deformity in 16 patients. Mean QuickDASH Score was 19.6 and it improved to 5.1 at 1 year. All patients underwent contracture release, full thickness skin grafting, and K wire fixation. Post-treatment, the majority of the patients had good to excellent Total Active Motion (TAM) rating. To conclude, appropriate and timely reconstructive procedures can greatly improve the function of hands afflicted with post-burn contractures. Time of presentation, age and gender do not significantly affect the degree of improvement in the functional outcome.

Authors and Affiliations