[Evaluation of hand injury severity].

Hand Trauma Severity Scale (HTSS) was created on the basis of our study on 1199 patients who were treated because of the hand injuries in the Second Chair of Surgery Jagiellonian University in Krakow in years 1987-2000. (last examination in 2010, follow-up: 11 to 23 years, mean follow-up: 16 years). Hand Trauma Severity Scale (HTSS) has been created based on We looked at the range of injury, likely total length of treatment, final functional result and possible amount of posttraumatic disability. Created HTSS scale was compared to Hand Injury Severity Score (HISS) and their statistically significant correlation (p < 0,001) was found. We have also found statistically significant correlation between the severity evaluated with HTSS and the circumstances of traumas, their direct cause, necessity of hospitalization after primary reconstructive treatment and total length of treatment. Distant results of treatment such as resuming of previously performed work and permanent posttraumatic disability also correlated with the severity of hand injuries measured with scale described in this study.