FRACTURES OF THE BASE OF THE MIDDLE PHALANX OF THE FINGERCLASSIFICATION, MANAGEMENT AND LONG-TERM RESULTSN. Seno, MD, Medical Staff; H. Hashizume, MD, Associate Professor; H. Inoue, MD, Professor and Director; J. Imatani, MD, Medical Staff; and Y. Morito, MD, DirectorDepartment of Orthopaedic Surgery, Okayama Saiseikai General Hospital, 1-17-18 Ifuku-cho, Okayama 700, Japan. Correspondence should be sent to Dr H. Hashizume. We classified fractures of the base of the middle phalanx into five types: 1) single palmar fragment; 2) single dorsal fragment; 3) two main fragments; 4) not involving the articular surface, including epiphyseal separation in children; and 5) all others. Types 1 and 2 were subclassified into avulsion, split and split-depression. Surgery is recommended for unstable type-1 avulsion fractures, type-2 avulsions which may develop buttonhole deformities, and all fractures which displace articular cartilage surfaces. Long-term follow-up showed that surgical treatment which produced good stability and congruity gave good results. These should be the primary aims of treatment.
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