The Use of the Ulnar Recurrent Fasciocutaneous Island Flap for Ulnar Neuroparalysis due to Heat Press Injury

• Published in: Orthopedics & Traumatology Vol. 57; no. 2; pp. 307 - 310
• Main Authors: Nakane, Etsuko, Soejima, Osamu, Naito, Masatoshi, Fujita, Tadayoshi, Ojimi, Hiroyuki
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: Japanese; English
• Published: West-Japanese Society of Orthopedics & Traumatology 2008
• Subjects: heat press injury; ulnar neuroparalysis; ulnar recurrent fasciocutaneous island flap
• ISSN: 0037-1033; 1349-4333
• DOI: 10.5035/nishiseisai.57.307

We herein report our clinical experience of using the fascia fat flap to perform an ulnar neuroparalysis, in a patient who suffered a heat press injury on the medial part of the elbow. A 25-year-old male who attempted suicide with a briquette and suffered a heat press injury around the medial part of the elbow. The patient's overall status settled down one month after the injury, when he visited our clinic complaining of pain from the left forearm to the hand on the ulnar side and a slight deformity of the fingers as his chief complaints. Claw hand deformity, a loss of sensation in the little finger and an undetermined nerve conduction velocity were observed, and he was thus diagnosed to have ulnar neuroparalysis. With the aim of promoting blood circulation around the area, we simultaneously performed neurolysis of the ulnar nerve, as well as nerve coating, using the ulnar recurrent fasciocutaneous island flap. We were thus able to obtain good results in which the pain subsided in the early postoperative period, while an improving trend in the claw hand deformity was seen about one month later, and subsequently, the patient demonstrated an improvement in sensation.