Functional Outcome of Staged Reconstruction of Blast Injury of the Hand

The purpose of this study is to describe the details of initial care, reconstruction and rehabilitation of blast injury to the hand of an adult scavenger staff of a recycling plant from an IED and determine the functional outcome of the treatment in terms of restoration of prehension of the hand. A detailed chronology of the clinical evaluation of a Nigerian adult admitted on the 14th of August, 2018 with blast injury to his left hand, the initial and subsequent care he received (while both on admission and after discharge) and the outcome of the treatment: return of prehension and time taken by patient to return to work. This patient was resuscitated and had initial care which comprised of serial debridement and fixation of fractures. Subsequent care he had included: wound resurfacing with thoraco-abdominal flap and glabrous skin grafting, digit stump refashioning of injured hand. Rehabilitation was achieved by meticulous physiotherapy and patient regained adequate prehensile function and returned to work within three months of discharge. Follow up at 16months showed tremendous improvement of function of the hand. A carefully executed care plan is rewarded with a good functional outcome (restoration of prehension of the injured hand and return to work) especially when treating a patient with a complex injury like blast injury to the hand.