The use of medicinal leeches in fingertip replantation without venous anastomosis - case report of a 4-year-old patient

Replantation of amputated fingertip is a technical challenge to the microsurgeons. The success rate depends directly on the availability and the size of preserved vessels and on the degree of their damage. In distal digital amputations, veins are usually not easily recovered or even absent, and thus high number of replantation procedures fails because of the venous congestion. The use of medicinal leeches is a treatment option for venous congestion of replanted fingers. A case report of a 4-year-old patient after fingertip replantation without venous anastomosis when temporary venous drainage was provided by an application of medicinal leeches is reported together with literature review. We observed an unusually short duration of venous congestion (48 hours) and there was no need of blood transfusion.

Abstract sourced from PubMed (NCBI) for the cited record. See the original publication for the authoritative version.

Successful fingertip replantation in a 4-year-old without venous anastomosis using medicinal leeches as temporary venous drainage; only 48 hours of venous congestion and no transfusion required.

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