The ‘Qatar flap’ innovative technology has been explicitly created for reconstructive microsurgery in hand procedures.
Surgical teams at the Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC), Qatar’s principal public healthcare provider, have undertaken over 100 procedures using this innovative surgical technique.
The innovative ‘Qatar Flap’ facilitates the functional and cosmetic restoration of various fingertip injuries, restoring the natural function of the finger without any disability or disfigurement.
It makes it easier for patients to resume their everyday lives after surgery.
Dr Saleem Al-Lahham, a Specialist in the Department of Plastic Surgery at HMC, is the innovator of the Qatar flap.
He explained that the innovation is based on functionally and cosmetically repairing fingertip injuries through a single surgical procedure that involves one of the minor secondary arterial branches, which contributes to restoring the fingers to their natural shape without any disability or deformity.
He said: ‘The Department of Plastic Surgery at HMC receives many hand injuries requiring precise surgical intervention to restore the finger’s functional and anatomical state.
‘Given the different types of finger injuries, the surgical procedures available may vary, but these procedures often leave painful scars on the fingers, and some require the sacrifice of major blood vessels in the fingers, making them undesirable options for patients.’
The ‘Qatar flap’ features in a paper published in PRS Global Open, a peer-reviewed journal covering reconstructive and cosmetic hand microsurgery.
In it, the authors note that ‘treatment of such defects to maintain the finger length and cover the bone when exposed has gained more attention in recent years, especially after the advancements made in the field of micro and super microsurgery (although some surgeons still prefer to manage such defects by secondary intention healing, claiming simplicity, low cost, and reproducibility of the method). However, it has the disadvantages of hyperalgesia, shortening of the finger, and persistent phalanx exposure’.
They add: ‘Our main indication to use the Qatari flap was bone exposure, but another potential indication is a painful adherent fingertip scar after secondary intention healing,
the scar can be excised, and the area can be covered with the described flap to provide padding over the bone.
‘The retrograde island digital artery perforator flap is a reliable choice, done in one stage and does not require loss of the digital artery.’
Dr Al-Lahham hopes his innovation will be adopted globally for fingertip restoration surgery.
Photo caption - Dr Saleem Al-Lahham and his team have performed over 100 surgical procedures using the innovation.
