Hands

One hundred and sixty cases of sepsis and trauma seen in the first six months of the Hand Clinic of the University College Hospital of the West Indies have been described. The details of techniques which have been found to contribute to success include the use of a tournique on the arm and regional local anaesthesia. Methods of skin cover for finger-tip injuries are discussed. Reasons are given for performing primary tendon suture on all cut flexor tendons. An incision turning down the pulp as a flap has been used for those severe terminal pulp infestions complicated by osteomyelitis of the phalanx. Finally, some good results from early penicillin irrigation of tendon sheath infections are recorded. (AU)