Epidemiology of Digital Nerve Injuries in the Stockholm County

The primary aim of this study was to describe the epidemiology of patients with surgically repaired digital nerve injuries in a Swedish population during the period 2012 to 2018. Secondary aims included a description of the patient population, surgical treatment and rehabilitation regimens following digital nerve injury. Comparisons were made between groups consisting in patients with isolated nerve injuries and those with a concomitant flexor tendon injury.

METHODS

Patients In this cohort study, all patients treated with surgical repair of a digital nerve injury at the Department of Hand Surgery at Södersjukhuset, Stockholm, Sweden were included. Inclusion period was between 2012-01-01 and 2018-12-31. Patients were identified through the Swedish national quality registry for Hand surgery (HAKIR). Inclusion criteria were the diagnostic codes (ICD-10) for a digital nerve injury in the thumb (S64.3) or finger (S64.4) in combination with the surgical code (KKÅ97) Nomesco classification of surgical procedures for nerve repair (ACB29). A total of 1,329 patients were identified. Exclusion criteria were concomitant skeletal injury, amputations, severe soft tissue injuries, or if the injury needed microvascular reconstruction. Patients reciding outside the Stockholm region and children below 18 years of age were also excluded. A total of 1,004 patients were included for the final analysis. The study population was thereafter divided into two groups: patients with an isolated digital nerve injury and patients with a ditial nerve injry with a concomitant tendon injury. All clinical data was collected through search of medical records.