The Need For Replantation Surgery After Traumatic Amputations of the Upper Extremity--An Estimate Based Upon the Epidemiology of Sweden

  • Nylander, G.;
  • Ostrup, L.;
  • Vilkki, Simo

AUTHOR ABSTRACT

Reports in the literature give different views of the frequency of serious amputation injuries of the upper extremity. In Sweden the vast majority of work injuries are registered by the Swedish Labour Market Insurance. All registered serious amputation injuries of the upper extremity in Sweden (8 million inhabitants) during 1979 were investigated in this study. For comparison the frequency of all amputation injuries (work and leisure) of the upper extremity in a county of Sweden (0.4 million inhabitants) during five years (1976-1980) were studied. The overall (work and leisure) incidence in Sweden is fourteen serious amputation injuries of the upper extremity per million inhabitants annually, i.e. a total number in the country of 110 cases per year. The frequency is lower in the areas of the largest cities and substantially higher in regions with sawmills, mechanical industry and/or agriculture. Thus, estimation of the total incidence based upon single counties or smaller regions may be misleading. Replantation would have been technically possible in more than 70% of the cases, but attempts at r plantation were only carried out in less than 10% of the serious cases. This study emphasizes the importance of a referral of all patients with a suitable injury of the upper extremity to microsurgically trained handsurgeons.

JOURNAL AND NATIONAL LIBRARY OF MEDICINE ID#

JOURNAL: J Hand Surg [Br]. 1984; 9(3): 257- 260.

Note: Journal of Hand Surgery. British Volume.

NLOM ID#: 85081697 .

Publication #: 85081697


This document was extracted from the CDC-NIOSH Epidemiology of Farm Related Injuries: Bibliography With Abstracts, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, Centers for Disease Control, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.

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