A Retrospective Study Of Surgical Management For Mallet Finger: Analysis Of Predictors Of Postoperative Outcomes

Objective: To determine the correlation between the preoperative diameter of patients and final out-comes of patients.Methods: thirty-eight patients presented to our hospital between December 2015 and February 2018 with mallet finger were reviewed.Among them,17 were female and 21 were male.Patient's age was 37.39±15.40 years.All included patients were operated with Tenodermodesis,micro-anchor technique,pull-out wire technique and palmaris longus tendon graft.The preoperative clinical features were obtained.At 6 months postoperative,at the distal interphalangeal joint,clinical parameters(extensor lag,flexion angle and pain)were assessed according to Crawford's criteria Characteristics of DIP Joint and complications were obtained.The correlation between them was determined.Results: A total 38 patients were reviewed.At the last review,according to Crawford's criteria,9 of 38 fingers had an excellent result,10 had a good result,10 had a fair result,and 9 had a poor result.One case was observed nail deformity.The other two cases surfed from stiffness in DIP joint.There was significant difference in time to surgery(?2=28.456,p=0.01),age(?2=14.325,p=0.026),injured digit(?2=17.501,p=0.041).However,significant difference were not observed in gender(?2=1.417,p=0.702),type of injury(?2=3.772,p=0.287),surgery types(?2=5.841,p=0.756).Conclusions: Surgical treatment was considered effective and reliable.The younger the patient is,the shorter the waiting time,the better the outcomes.