Early repair treatment of electrical burns and recovery of tendons and nerves. Report of 194 operations.

A new approach to treatment of electrically burned tendons and nerves by primarily covering with skin or myocutaneous flaps is recommended. Between 1964 and 1989, 194 operations using the new approach were performed on 147 patients, of which 179 operations were successful and only 15 procedures resulted in infection. Among 42 cases involving the wrist, the rate of functional recovery of the electrically burned tendons was 97.6%; the rate of recovery in 21 cases of electrically burned peripheral nerves was 80.9%.