Z-plasty in post-burn contracture of hand among pediatric patients.

Abstract

Objective: To find out the frequency of hand burn and the effectiveness of Z-plasty in post-burn hand contractures. Study Design: Descriptive Cross-sectional study. Setting: Department of Pediatric Surgery, Khawaja Muhammad Safdar Medical College, Sialkot. Period: January to December 2021. Material & Methods: A preformed proforma was used, consisting of 4 parts, the first part including demographic data like age and gender, second part consist of patient’s history, consisting of presenting complaint, its duration, past history of any medical or surgical illness or comorbidity. Third part consisted of physical clinical examination of the hand (fingers and palm) while fourth part was for post-operative complications of reconstructive procedure, Z-plasty. The data was analyzed by using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version-20. Results: The most commonly affected age group was less than 6 years of majority of them, 53.3%, were male. The most common cause was thermal burns as compared to electrical burns. Among 91.1% of the participants, the right hand was affected more. Majority of the cases (48.9%) reported single finger burn, followed by multiple fingers (31.1%) and very few (20%) were having palm burns. Segregating the single figure, results showed that little finger was affected in 20% of cases No post-operative complications, like skin necrosis, wound dehiscence, hematoma or infection, were noted. Conclusion: It can be concluded that post-burn hand contractures and hand deformity was common among children. Z-plasty with/without skin grafting is an ideal surgical management to subside the contracture of hand.