New tendencies in hand surgery

Abstract

The author summarizes the new therapeutic tendencies in hand surgery at the past one and a half decade. He discusses the development of hand surgery, as an independent field, in a form of a short historical summary, then he reviews in detail new therapeutic methods considered important such as rehabilitation procedures after tendon injuries, present position of complete hand transplantation, new operations of regeneration of the injured skin and repair of nerve damages, as well as the conservative therapeutic options of Dupuytren's disease. Finally he outlines the modified, new operative procedures in bone and joint injuries of the hand. He concludes that constant development of hand surgical knowledge will likely result in further novel therapeutic methods.