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Category: May 2018

For this month’s edition, we asked our contributors to write about how they approach controversial hand surgery treatments. From finger replantation to cubital tunnel syndrome to being a full-time hand surgeon and mother, this collection of submissions highlights a variety of interesting practices.

Cultural Perspectives: Single Finger Replantation

By Joseph Buckwalter V, MD I recently returned from a 3-month fellowship in China sponsored by the American Society for Surgery of the Hand (ASSH). I had the extraordinary opportunity to participate in the clinical and academic programs of many of their best hand and microsurgical hospitals in Guangzhou, Beijing, Shanghai, and Xi’an.  During my […]

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A Perspective On Pumping

By Jennifer Y. Chu, MD By the time you read this, my third and final baby will be one year old and I will no longer be carrying a breast pump to work. As surgeons, we often look back after cases and ask ourselves what went well and what could have gone better. After over […]

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Endless Opportunities And Uncertainty: Finger Replantation

By Charles Daly, MD There is no perfect agent, but I hope that I am pretty close.  Everyone embraces his or her own style of helping patients arrive at a decision for treatment, often thoroughly encumbered by theoretical beliefs and personal experience.  As a young surgeon, I struggle with the degree of authoritarianism that I […]

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Distal Biceps Ruptures: An Odyssey Of Lifelong Learning

By Saul J. Kaplan, MD During my orthopaedic surgery training in the mid 1980’s, I neither heard of nor read about distal biceps ruptures.  We read an article in journal club during my fellowship on loss of strength due to this injury. In truth, the elbow was sort of a black box at that time treated […]

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The Composite Problem – Scaphoid Nonunions

By Steven M. Koehler, MD I am honored to have the opportunity to write to my colleagues, especially about how I approach a problem with controversial treatments. As with most surgeons, my perspective on how to treat any problem is a reflection of my mentors’ opinions, thoughts and convictions. I am no exception. Luckily, I […]

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Finding A Better Route

By Jose J. Monsivais, MD, FACS Multiple events come into my mind looking back at my nearly forty years of practicing hand surgery and performing cases at home and abroad. Approximately ten years ago, during my volunteer trips in Eastern Europe, Central America, Africa, and in the Middle East, I was struck by the number […]

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What Would You Do If It Were Your Hand?

By Adam Warren Rives, MD For this installment of ASSH Perspectives, I have been asked to write about approaching hand surgical problems for which the treatment is controversial. I am by no means an expert in this, nor do I profess to be. My goals with this entry is to outline how I personally approach these […]

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Mallet Fractures: Non-Operative Management

By Lawrence H. Schneider, MD This is a tiny fracture that occurs at the dorsal base of the distal phalanx. The long extensor tendon remains attached to the bony fragment. The injury has piqued the interest of hand surgeons and there are a large number of papers in the hand surgery literature out of proportion, I […]

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Deep Thoughts On Cubital Tunnel Syndrome

By Peter Tang, MD, MPH, FAOA I think cubital tunnel syndrome is such an interesting topic because it is the second most common compressive neuropathy, but we seem to know so little about it. We don’t know what exactly causes it and we don’t know where the problem is happening. Unlike carpal tunnel syndrome, where […]

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