Background: Although flexor tendon injuries cause significant morbidities and socio-economic implications, there have been limited data on patient demographics, injury characteristics and surgical details. The aim of this study is to describe our experience in flexor tendon injuries and repairs. Methods: We performed a retrospective study of all digital flexor tendon injuries that were repaired from January 2011 to December 2014. The collected data included patient demographics, injury characteristics and surgical details. Results: A total of 214 patients, 308 digits with 446 flexor tendon repairs were identified. We found that males, non-residents, and 20–29 age group were most prone to flexor tendon injuries. Cleaners, labourers and related occupations were the most vulnerable. The mechanism of injury was usually work-related and mostly caused by glass. Most injuries involve both flexor digitorum profundus and flexor digitorum superficialis tendons. Concomitant digital nerve and vessel injuries were common. Most patients suffered zone 2 laceration of a single digit of the non-dominant hand. Most patients underwent procedures that lasted 1 to 2 hours, including multiple flexor tendon repairs, microsurgical repairs and other interventions. Conclusions: This study is the largest study on patient demographics, injury characteristics and surgical details on flexor tendon injuries and repairs. It could be used to plan resources and policies for the management and prevention of flexor tendon injuries.

We compared the Lim/Tsai tendon repair technique using an extra-tendinous knot with modification using an intra-tendinous knot. The ultimate tensile strength, load to 2 mm gap force, stiffness, mode of failure, location of failure, and time taken to repair each tendon were recorded during a single cycle loading test in 20 tendons with each repair method. We found that the ultimate tensile strength and 2 mm gap force of the modified Lim/Tsai repair with an extra-tendinous knot (56 SD 5 N and 14 SD 2 N, respectively) were statistically significantly higher than that of the modified Lim/Tsai repair with intra-tendinous knot (51 SD 7 N and 11 SD 2 N, respectively). We conclude that the modified Lim/Tsai repair with extra-tendinous knot is stronger, despite having the same number of core strands.

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We evaluated a case of pisiform fracture with ulnar nerve compression managed with pisiformectomy. At 11 months' follow-up, the patient regained range of motion of the wrist and grip strength with no subjective loss of function and normal nerve conduction study. We compared other treatment modalities and reviewed their outcomes.