Characteristics and the Emergency Department Cost of Tendon Injuries of the Hand

Objective: Hand injuries lead to high morbidity rate, and long-term labor loss due to their functional significance, and tendon injuries occur in more than 50% of patients even with small lacerations. We aimed to evaluate the characteristics and the emergency department cost of tendon lacerations of hand injuries. Methods: The study's data were obtained retrospectively by digital scanning of the files of patients admitted to the ED with an isolated hand injury from June 2014 to June 2016. The characteristics of patients and the emergency department costs from billing information were recorded and analyzed. Results: A total of 132 patients included. The mean age of the patients was 33.32±13.03 years, and 83.3% were male. The vast majority of injuries occurred at home (64.4%), more than half of the injuries were caused by puncture-cutting tools (54.5%), and the most injured location was the flexor area (56.8%). The mean of the number of injured tendons were 2.50±2.26 tendons. The average cost of tendon injuries was 1.065,34±828,90 TL, and the flexor tendon injuries had the highest cost average. Conclusion: Tendon injuries affect especially the young adult male population. The ED expenses of tendon injuries are high enough to mind and even more evident when further hospital beds and following physical therapy costs and the costs related to the labor loss were added. Keywords: Hand, tendon injuries, cost, emergency department