Each year, millions of North
Americans injure their hands resulting in significant morbidity and lost
workdays. In the USA, among all the injuries reported at private, state, and
local government, 12.7% were hand injuries; and the average days away from work
was 5 days in 2014.
Among hand injuries, flexor
tendon lacerations remain a challenge for hand surgeons. While flexor tendons
heal with reduced mechanical strength, the most clinically relevant issue
is adhesion formation, which impairs hand activity. There are presently no
therapeutic agents available for the prevention of tendon adhesions.
In fact, the only accepted means of preventing
adhesion formation in flexor tendons is physical therapy. Even with physical
therapy, the strength of healed tendons is markedly less than uninjured tendon,
and debilitating adhesions have been reported to occur in as many as 50% of
zone II flexor tendon injuries.
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