Description

Fingertip injuries rank among the most prevalent hand injuries, leading to nearly 5 million emergency department visits annually. Particularly common among adults, are lacerations, crush injuries, and avulsions affecting the thumb, index finger, and middle finger. As fingertip amputations encompass a diverse range of injuries involving soft tissue, bone, and/or nail, there is no singular recommended treatment as the standard of care. Instead, treatment is tailored to the individual patient, aiming to minimize pain, optimize healing, preserve sensory and motor function, and maintain an aesthetically acceptable appearance.

Possible treatment options for fingertip amputations without exposure of the distal phalanx include primary closure, healing by secondary intention, completion/revision amputation, full-thickness skin grafting, and split-thickness skin grafting, or flap coverage. However, when soft tissue allows, primary closure or healing by secondary intention have demonstrate positive and reliable outcomes.

New technologies, such as non-contact low-frequency ultrasound (NCLF-US), continue to be introduced to support healing of acute and chronic injuries to improve patient outcomes. While a moderate amount of research exists demonstrating safety and efficacy of NCLF-US in expediting the healing of chronic wounds, there is limited research on its efficacy in the treatment of acute injuries.

Given the significance of optimizing healing, especially in a population predominantly composed of young men engaged in manual labor, it is reasonable to wonder about the efficacy of NCLF-US in the treatment of fingertip amputations without exposed bone managed through secondary intention. This study aimed to compare the efficacy of NCLF-US in combination with standard treatment for secondary healing versus the standard treatment alone.