Long-Term Fate of the Anastomosed Digital Artery after Successful Replantation

Kim, Hyun Peel; Han, Seung Kyu; Kim, Woo Kyung

Abstract

We have found that some replanted fingers were survived not by the supply of blood from anastomosed arteries but by the neovascularization of the soft tissue. Therefore, we checked if the anastomosed arteries will consistently be in patency and the average time it takes for anastomosed digital arteries to be occluded after replantations. We surveyed a total of 75 fingers to evaluate patency of the anastomosed arteries using Doppler. We performed angiogram for 15 fingers on the average of 30th day after replantations. We further analyzed the causes, types, levels, vein graft, and the number of venorrhaphies. We couldn't find, using the Doppler, the pulsations of the anastomosed arteries on 28 fingers but could find the occlusions of anastomosed arteries from 10 fingers on angiogram. In case of 43 percent in crushing and 8 percent in clean cut, pulsation was not heard in the Doppler (p<0.05). The unheard ratios is 51 percent in distal phalanx, 8 percent in mid-phalanx and 37 percent in proximal phalanx, respectively. Twenty-eight fingers (37%) out of 75 didn't show consistent patency on the average of 15 days after operation. The results show that the causes and levels of amputation were factors affecting the patency of arteries.