Syndactyly is a condition present at birth where two or more fingers are fused together. In its simple form, the fusion involves only skin and soft tissue, while the complex type also includes bone.
Researchers at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) have published findings in Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery that compare traditional surgical methods for treating simple syndactyly with a newer approach. Traditionally, surgeons separate fused fingers using skin grafts taken from another part of the body. The CHOP study examined outcomes for patients who underwent reconstruction with an advancement flap, which does not require a skin graft.
According to the study, “for cases of simple syndactyly, patients who underwent reconstruction with an advancement flap without skin graft have fewer postoperative complications than the approach using skin grafts. This technique also avoids having a skin graft donor site elsewhere on the body.” Researchers noted that this is one of the largest studies to include a comparison group for these procedures.
The results showed that patients treated with the traditional skin graft method experienced more early complications such as infection, hematoma, seroma, and wound healing problems. Additionally, “the skin graftless technique also has the advantage of taking approximately 30 minutes less time.”
However, in complex syndactyly cases—where bone is involved—the advancement flap method cannot be used due to insufficient available skin between fingers.
More details can be found in the original article’s abstract.
