[Late results after surgical and conservative treatment of capsule ligament injuries of the finger joints].

Late results following operative and conservative treatment of 215 ligamentous injuries with injured metacarpophalangeal and interphalangeal joints are presented. These 215 cases represent 77,4% of all hand injuries which were treated in the years 1976 to 1981 at the Traumatological Department of Essen University. Mobility, stability, and function were used to evaluate and compare the late results. A modification of the scheme of Buck-Gramcko et al. for the evaluation of finger's mobility after flexor tendon injuries was employed. 75% of late results were judged to be "good to very good", 16,5% "satisfactory", and 8,5% "poor". The most important influences on the late results were found to be the time between injury and treatment and the patient's age. Further factors were open injuries and the destruction of large parts of the palmar plate. The late results in cases after surgery were much better than those after conservative treatment. Only injuries without total rupture of the palmar plate or collateral ligaments - which were in nearly all cases treated conservatively - reached good or very good late results in over 90%. A better evaluation of the bony injuries could be achieved by special X-ray technique such as magnification views of the involved joints. If the duration of immobilisation is shortened a better restoration of full joint mobility is ensured without disturbing joint stability.