Composite graft replacement of digital tips. 2. A study in children.

This study investigated the outcome of composite graft replacement of 50 amputated digital tips in 50 children over a period of 3 years and 6 months. Eleven of 18 tips (61%) which were replaced within 5 hours survived completely while none of 32 digital tips replaced after 5 hours survived completely. This difference was highly significant. The mean delay time between amputation and replacement in the successful group was 3.9 hours and in the others was 7.2 hours. This difference was also statistically significant. The implications of the findings of this series to the use of this treatment are discussed.