The Journal of hand surgery
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Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) are the gold standard for comparing clinical interventions. Statistical significance as reported via a P value has been used to determine if a difference between clinical interventions exists in an RCT. However, P values do not clearly convey information about the robustness of a study's conclusions. An emerging metric, called the fragility index (the number of subjects who would need to change outcome category to raise the P value above the .05 threshold), is an indirect measure of how likely a repeat of the trial would reach the same conclusions. This study addressed the fragility of RCTs using dichotomous outcomes in hand surgery. ⋯ The fragility index is a useful metric to analyze the robustness of the study conclusions that should complement other methods of critical evaluation including the P value or effect sizes. Our results emphasize the need for future efforts to strengthen the robustness of RCT conclusions.
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Nerve transfers are an increasingly popular method for surgical treatment of nerve injuries. One of the most popular of these is the transfer of radial nerve triceps fascicles to the axillary nerve. The most common approach for this transfer is the posterior approach, which gives excellent access to both nerves but is not easy to combine with other nerve transfers. We describe here an alternative, the anterior approach, that offers safe access to both radial and axillary nerves and has the added advantage of compatibility with approaches for other common nerve transfers.
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Ever since the institution of pain as the fifth vital sign, there has been a rising opioid epidemic in the United States, with Americans now consuming 80% of the global opioid supply while representing only 5% of the world's population. Surgeons are tasked with the duty of both managing patients' pain in the perioperative period and following responsible prescribing behaviors. Several articles have been published with the goal of evaluating opioid use after upper extremity surgery, risk factors for opioid misuse/abuse, the impact of anesthetic type, and the role of multimodal pain management regimens. ⋯ Risk factors for prolonged opioid use and/or misuse are younger age, history of substance abuse, psychological disorders, and previous pain diagnoses. Use of regional blockade anesthesia, particularly with long-acting agents or indwelling catheters, can be helpful in the management of postoperative pain. This review article summarizes the available literature regarding opioid use after upper extremity surgery to provide the surgeon with additional information to make informed decisions regarding postoperative opioid prescription.
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Management of fingertip and thumb tip injuries has recently undergone substantial changes. The time-proven traditional armamentarium of local flaps has been expanded and replaced by a wide variety of flaps. ⋯ The excellent results with respect to restoring contour, sensibility of the pulp, and aesthetics of the finger justify this more tedious and time-consuming treatment of fingertip and thumb tip injuries. This article gives an update of the most commonly used flaps and the semiocclusive dressing treatments of fingertip and thumb tip injuries.
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Replacing an extruded segment of bone in an open fracture imposes a challenging decision concerning the best and safest patient management. There are numerous advantages to restoring the patient's own extruded bone segment to its original location, particularly when the bone segment is of structural importance. ⋯ Among the different chemical sterilization solutions 10% povidone-iodine and chlorhexidine gluconate solutions are the author's most preferred solutions. Regarding cellular toxicity, 10% povidone-iodine has been found to be the most favorable among the readily available solutions.