Recent Advances In The Development Of Partial Hand Prostheses

Abstract

Recently, two patients have presented with partial hand amputations in which the digits and distal ends of the metacarpals were missing, but the thumb was intact. One of these was a child with a congenital absence and the other an adult with loss of digits through a farming accident. The child has been fitted with two different systems, the first based on the motor and finger group of an Otto Bock size 5 Electrohand 2000, and the second based on our own, in-house, design. The adult has been fitted with mechanical fingers having multiple locking positions. The prostheses have been used extensively.