Abstract

Purpose: The aim of the study was to compare and determine the effectiveness of conservative splint treatment and surgical extension block pinning treatment of mallet fractures containing more than one-third of the articular surface.
Methods: The study included 39 patients who were diagnosed with acute closed bony mallet finger of which the fracture line contained at least one-third of the articular surface, treated between January 2017 and January 2020. Of the patients, 23 (16 men and 7 women) were treated surgically with the extension block pinning method and 16 (12 men and 4 women) were treated with the hyperextension finger splint. Patients with a follow-up period of at least one year were evaluated. The patients were compared based on their Crawford mallet finger outcome assessment criteria, Michigan Hand Outcome Questionnaire scores and joint restriction limitations. Data were analyzed with the SPSS 21 package program. The significance level was p

Key words: mallet finger, extension block pinning, splinting