Secondary Autologous Fat Grafting as a Novel Method to Improve Pain and Appearance of the Residual Fingertip After Amputation

Early human evidence such as case series or small samples is exploring possible benefits.

• Level A · Stronger Clinical Evidence
• Level B · Emerging clinical evidence with positive signals
• Level C · Early human research exploring benefits
• Level D · Scientific groundwork from lab and animal studies
• Emerging · Emerging topic under active research

Abstract (original English)

Background Adequate soft tissue coverage following distal phalanx amputation remains challenging. The purpose of this study was to evaluate patient-reported outcomes following secondary autologous fat grafting after reconstruction of distal phalanx amputations with tissue flaps. Methods A retrospective review of patients who underwent autologous fat grafting to reconstructed fingertips following distal phalanx amputation with flaps from January 2018 to December 2020 was conducted. Exclusion criteria included patients who had amputations proximal to the distal phalanx or repair of distal phalanx amputations without flap closure. Data collected included patient demographics, mechanism of injury, complications, overall satisfaction, and outcomes of hyperesthesia, cold sensitivity, fingertip contour, and scarring reported using the Visual Analog Scale (VAS) before and after fat grafting. Results Seven patients (10 digits) with fat grafting after transdistal phalanx amputations were included in the study. The average age was 45.1 ± 15.2 years. The mechanism of injury was crush in 6 patients and laceration in 1 patient. The average time between injury and fat grafting was 25.4 ± 20.6 weeks, and mean follow-up time after fat grafting was 2.9 ± 2.6 months. The mean improvement in VAS for hyperesthesia, cold sensitivity, fingertip contour, and scarring were 3.9 ( P = .005), 2.8 ( P = .0

Evidence level

Early human evidence such as case series or small samples is exploring possible benefits.

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