gms | German Medical Science

14th Triennial Congress of the International Federation of Societies for Surgery of the Hand (IFSSH), 11th Triennial Congress of the International Federation of Societies for Hand Therapy (IFSHT)

17.06. - 21.06.2019, Berlin

Article

Send article

Helical tendon repair: description of a new technique and comparative biomechanical analysis with two standard techniques

Meeting Abstract

Search Medline for

  • presenting/speaker Carlos Eduardo Torres Fuentes - Fundación Universitaria de Ciencias de la salud, Hospital San José, Bogotá, Colombia
  • Francisco Sebastian Carvajal Flechas - Fundación Universitaria de Ciencias de la Salud, Hospital San José, Bogotá, Colombia
  • Julian Andres Hernandez Beltran - Fundación Universitaria de Ciencias de la Salud, Hospital San José, Bogotá, Colombia
  • Juan Sebastian Abaunza - Fundación Universitaria de Ciencias de la Salud, Hospital San José, Bogotá, Colombia
  • Brenda Melissa Barragan - Universidad Central, Bogotá, Colombia
  • Dayanna Carmona - Universidad Central, Bogotá, Colombia
  • Angelica Maria Ramirez - Universidad Central, Bogotá, Colombia

International Federation of Societies for Surgery of the Hand. International Federation of Societies for Hand Therapy. 14th Triennial Congress of the International Federation of Societies for Surgery of the Hand (IFSSH), 11th Triennial Congress of the International Federation of Societies for Hand Therapy (IFSHT), 11th Triennial Congress of the International Federation of Societies for Hand Therapy (IFSHT). Berlin, 17.-21.06.2019. Düsseldorf: German Medical Science GMS Publishing House; 2020. DocIFSSH19-1106

doi: 10.3205/19ifssh1001, urn:nbn:de:0183-19ifssh10010

Published: February 6, 2020

© 2020 Torres Fuentes et al.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License. See license information at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

Outline

Text

Objectives/Interrogation: Describe a new tendon repair technique for the management of hand flexor tendon injuries and compare their biomechanical characteristics with two conventional techniques of 4-strand cruciate repair, in an ex vivo experimental animal model with porcine tendons.

Methods: We describe a technique that consists in a 6-strand cruciate repair that crosses the tendon in an helical form.

This is a comparative experimental biomechanical study in ex vivo animal models. We harvested 66 porcine flexor tendons, a transverse cut at the middle of the tendons was made and these was repaired according a random assignment in six groups: Helical tendon repair made by experienced surgeon, Helical tendon repair made by surgeon in training, Adelaide tendon repair made by experienced surgeon, Adelaide tendon repair made by surgeon in training, modified Kessler tendon repair made by experienced surgeon and modified Kessler tendon repair made by surgeon in training. All the repair were made with 4-0 vascular prolene. The repaired tendons were pulled until failure using an universal test machine. The measuring and registering were made in a blinded manner, recording the ultimate tensile strength, load to 2-mm gap force, stiffness, and mechanism of failure.

Results and Conclusions: The Helical tendon repair (65 N) had greater ultimate tensile strength than the Adelaide tendon repair (46 N) and modified Kessler tendon repair (36 N). This is an easy and reproducible technique that can be performed by any surgeon. It resists the forces required for an early active hand mobilization. The repair biomechanic has a greater stability due to its configuration that involving the entire tendon cross-sectional area.