DOI: 10.30565/medalanya.1853119 ISSN: 2587-0319

Evaluation of Hand Functions After Treatment of Pediatric Fingertip Injuries: The Jebsen–Taylor Test

Fatih Doğar, Kadir İsmail Dere, Kaan Gürbüz, Mustafa Tıraş, Mustafa Abdullah Özdemir, Ali Aydın Karadeniz, Duran Topak
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Aim: Fingertip injuries are common in children because of their curiosity and lack of awareness of their surroundings. The aim of this study was to evaluate postoperative finger and hand functions in pediatric patients treated for fingertip injuries.Materials and Methods: A retrospective analysis was performed of the medical records of pediatric patients under who presented to the emergency department with fingertip injuries between September 2019-January 2021. Fifty-five patients were included in the study and were examined with respect to demographic data, the etiology of the injury, and the treatment performed. At their final follow-up visits, hand functions were evaluated the Jebsen–Taylor Hand Function Test.Results: At final follow-up, Jebsen–Taylor hand function test showed a statistically significant impairment in hand function, attributable to deficits in fine and gross motor skills (p < 0.05). In patients with fingertip injuries, there was a statistically significant difference compared with healthy subjects in the simulated feeding subtest of the Jebsen–Taylor test for the dominant hand, and in the small-objects, tray (moving light objects), and checker-stacking subtests for the nondominant hand (p < 0.05). In addition, 9 (27%) of the patients who had sustained an injury to the dominant hand experienced a postoperative change in hand dominance.Conclusion: Fingertip injuries cause significant functional and aesthetic problems in the pediatric age group, as in all age groups. With reconstruction appropriate to the type of injury, near-ideal results can be achieved, and these functional outcomes can be successfully measured using the Jebsen–Taylor test.

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