Comparison of wire versus Nylon in Bonny-Mallet Finger treated with pull-out surgery

Abstract

Introduction: Zone I extensor tendon lesion accompanies an avulsion fracture of the bone insertion. A common complication of traditional pull-out is the necrosis of the site of the button in the finger pad. Zhang described an alternative way of anchoring the cerclage to the Kirschner Wire (K-wire) to relieve the pressure in the finger pad. He describes the use of wire cerclage, for fracture reduction. The objective of this paper is to perform a comparison between wire and nylon using Zhang pull-out technique. Material and methods: We performed a cohort study comparing Nylon versus Wire in Zhang technique. Comparing cosmetic satisfaction, stiffness, residual pain, and Crawford scale. Results: When comparing the outcomes between both groups, we found no statistical difference in cosmetic satisfaction (p = 0.285), stiffness (p = 0.460), and residual pain (p =1.000), overall complications (p = 1.000), or Crawford scale (p = 1.000). We only found a significant statistical difference in pain when removing the cerclage, being greater in Group B (p = 0.008). Conclusions: We found no significant outcome difference between nylon and wire cerclage. However, at the time of removing it, patients experience less pain.