Perceptions of correct preoperative storage and transfer of amputated digits : a national survey of referring emergency departments

Abstract

The increasing ability of plastic surgeons to perform hand, trauma and microsurgery has increased both patients' and doctors' expectations of what we can achieve. This has resulted in a multitude of ever smaller body parts in a range of conditions appearing in front of the on-call plastic surgery team for consideration of replantation. With technical advances in surgery there is a possibility that the medical community may have overlooked the more simple issue of how a replantable digit should be prepared, stored and transported. In recent years, our unit has received digits potentially suitable for replantation, which have been stored and transported inappropriately, in some cases rendering the tissue unviable.