Abstract
Objective: To evaluate the safety and effectiveness of a modified pull-out suture technique
in patients undergoing primary repair surgery for injuries to the flexor tendons of
the fingers with Total Active Motion (TAM) as the primary outcome.
Method: A total of 29 patients (38 fingers) were chosen from both sexes, aged between 18
and 65 years with clean acute tendon laceration occurring within 15 days, in the Verdan's
zone II of flexor tendon in the hand, when only the deep flexor tendon was sutured,
either associated or not with digital nerve injury. The patients were operated on
using the proposed technique and evaluated at 3, 9 and 24-weeks PO. The primary outcome
was the assessment of Total Active Movement (TAM) and 3 classifications were employed:
Strickland, IFSSH and Buck-Gramcko.
Results: We observed a total active motion (TAM) of 209.3 °at the end of 24 weeks; 83.0% of
Good and Excellent results by the Modified Strickland Classification, 93% of Excellent
results by the IFSSH Classification, and 97% of Good and Excellent results using the
Buck-Gramcko Classification. There were no cases of rupture, but tendon adhesion was
observed in 3 fingers.
Conclusion: The present suture technique proved to be safe and effective with a low rate of complications,
obtaining an excellent functional result in terms of total active mobility, according
to the evaluations and classifications used.
Keywords
tendon injuries - rupture - suture
