Adhesion formation caused by the tendon injury is an important postoperative complication in hand surgery. The purpose of this study is to mechanically detect the effect of microsurgical and medical treatments on the adhesion of injured flexor tendons. The effect of the mentioned techniques is investigated for the following four groups: (I) the control group which is lacking the primary sheath repair and aprotinin application; (II) the primary sheath repair exists but aprotinin is still lacking; (III) the primary sheath repair does not exist but the local aprotinin (15000IU/kg) is applied; (IV) both the primary sheath repair and the local aprotinin are applied. Each group comprises 6 fingers. On the 6th and 12th weeks postoperatively, the hands are disarticulated from the wrist region and 2nd, 3rd fingers flexor digitorum profundus (FDP) tendons are prepared for biomechanical tests. Tendon-finger complexes are tested by simulating flexion motion under the existence of a load cell measuring the load and an extensometer measuring displacement of the tendon. The work of flexion (WF) values are obtained from the area under the load-displacement curve and percent resistive work of flexion parameter (PRWF) is evaluated by subtracting the unintervented contralateral finger's WF value from the operated finger's WF value. As a result of the study, application of both microsurgical techniques and medical treatment yielded the best result in reducing the restrictive adhesion in injured tendons.
展开▼
