Modification of Krukenberg's kineplastic operation.

Little attention has been paid lately to the kineplastic operations of amputation stumps. But Krukenberg's procedure, the forcipisation of forearm amputation stumps introduced in 1917 has, nevertheless survived. The authors have modified the operation. The skin of the forearm is split with a U-shaped incision. All muscles are saved. The interdigital commissure is covered with two triangular flaps. The remaining skin defect is left on the dorsum of the radial branch and covered with a free split skin graft. The skin graft is not used to cover the contact surface. In the Orthopaedic Hospital of the Invalid Foundation of Helsinki nine hands of seven patients have been operated during the years 1969--73 using this method.