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Introduction: This study evaluated hand and forearm injuries caused by angle grinders and identify the risk factors. Methods: Between 2020 and 2022, 79 patients with hand and forearm injuries due to angle grinder were retrospectively evaluated. Data were obtained from the hospital database and telephone interviews with patients. Age, gender, education level, employment status and work experience, smoking, and alcohol use were recorded. The injury location and structures were evaluated. The time of injury and use of protective gloves were recorded. The Modified Hand Injury Severity Score (MHISS) was used to determine the severity of the injury. The return to work times of actively working patients were recorded. Results: Seventy-nine patients with angle grinder injuries were included in the study. All patients were male. Dominant side injury was in 17 (21.5%) patients. The most frequently injured area was the dorsal hand, and the most frequently injured structure was the extensor tendon. The mean MHISS was 49.15 (4-280) and 39 (49.4%) patients had minor injuries. The mean return to work was 7.13 (2- 32) weeks. No correlation was found between age, work experience, and MHISS (p=0.167 p=0.389). There was a correlation between the use of protective gloves and MHISS (p=0.002). Conclusion: Injuries to the hand and forearm caused by angle grinder usage can result in serious work-related disabilities. These injuries can be reduced by increasing safety precautions and training. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This study aimed to assess the diagnostic accuracy of smartphone photographs, taken at the emergency department (ED) and shared with hand surgeons, in identifying critical circulatory issues and neurovascular bundle injury, as well as tendon and bone injuries., Methods: The photographs of hand injuries of 50 patients who were referred to our ED between January 2020 and January 2022 were used to design a questionnaire. This questionnaire, including closed-ended questions about the injured structures, was shared with a group of hand surgeons via a WhatsApp group in Turkey. The experience levels of the surgeons were categorized as 0-5 years, 5-10 years, and above 10 years. Diagnostic accuracy was assessed by comparing the results with surgery notes as the reference standard., Results: A total of 94 hand surgeons participated in the study. The accuracy of predicting critical circulatory issues in the hand/fingers from the smartphone photographs was 81.9%, with a sensitivity of 48.0% and a specificity of 91.4%. For neurovascular bundle injuries, the accuracy was 63.0%, with a sensitivity of 63.9% and a specificity of 61.5%. The accuracy of predicting tendon injuries was 64.9%, with a sensitivity of 81.1% and a specificity of 42.5%. The accuracy of predicting fracture was 74.7%, with a sensitivity of 70.9% and a specificity of 79.9%., Conclusions: Identifying critical circulatory issues solely based on the shared photograph is inadequate. Similarly, evaluation based only on the photograph was insufficient for the detection of neurovascular bundle injuries, tendon ruptures, and fractures., Clinical Relevance: Digital images acquired in an ED setting and subsequent review of these images by hand surgeons may not be an adequately reliable strategy for determining the necessity of patient transfer., Competing Interests: Conflicts of Interest No benefits in any form have been received or will be received related directly to this article., (Copyright © 2024 American Society for Surgery of the Hand. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Recent studies on fibular osteotomy for varus gonarthrosis and possible subsequent biomechanical changes have attracted increasing attention to the topic. Existing studies have focused mainly on proximal fibular osteotomy with short follow-up periods. The aim of this study was to investigate changes in the alignment of the coronal plane of the ankle and knee joints in patients who underwent vascularized fibula graft harvest (VFGH). The evaluation was based on functional outcomes and radiological measurements.In the comparison between the VFGH side and the contralateral side, no significant differences in the knee inclination (KI) or talar inclination (TI) angle, knee medial clear space (K-MCS) or ankle medial clear space (A-MCS) distance were noted. However, a significant difference in the hip knee (HKA) angle was observed between the operated and nonoperated sides (0.3° ± 1.8° and 1.5° ± 1.9°, respectively [p = 0.019]). Statistically significant differences in both the knee society score (KSS) and the AOFAS scores were found between the ipsilateral donor limb and the contralateral healthy limb. Although the contralateral healthy side had better clinical scores than the VFGH side, the outcomes of the VFGH side were still satisfactory or excellent., (© 2024. The Author(s).)