A Clinical Study on Fracture of the Hand

Kang, Eung Shick; Kim, Nam Hyun; Oh, Hak Yoon; Sohn, Young Wan

Abstract

The hand is a part of the human body, which has a complex structure, various functions and is one of the parts of the body most susceptible to trauma. With the increasing number of the traffic and occupational accidents proportionate to the rapld development of modern culture, fracture of the hand have become one of the commonest fracture of the human body. The object of treatment of fracture of the hand is to restore function the greatest degree possible with exact diagnosis and proper treatment based on the knowledge of anatomical structure and function. The authors have reviewed 228 cases of fractures of the hand (fracture with severe soft tissue injury were excluded) which were treated in the department of orthopedic surgery, Severance hospital from 1969 to 1978. The following results were obtained; 1. Fractures occured more commonly In man (80.3%) than woman. 2. Fractures occured more commonly in the second decade and the group between 10 and 30 years of age accounted for 73.7% of all fractures. 3. There was no significant differnnce between the left and right side. (105:123) 4. The commonest cause of the fracture was traffic accident (38.6%), machinary injury was the second (21.1%). 5. Most of the patients were brought to our hospital within 12 hours after injury (61.8%). 6. The most frequently fractured bone was the metacarpal (34.4%), then the proximal phalanx (28.1%), distal phalanx (16.9%), middle phalanx (10.5%) in decreasing frequency. 7. The average time for clinical union was 4.2 weeks in the case of the distal phalanx, 6.8 weeks in middle phalanx, 7.3 weeks in proximal phalanx and 6.5 weeks in metacarpal. 8. Complications were found in 8.3% of all cases and angulation deformlty was the most frequent.