LONG-TERM EFFECTS OF SENSORY REEDUCATION FOLLOWING DIGITAL REPLANTATION AND REVASCULARIZATION

The long-term maintenance of sensory gain following sensory reeducatio n is still unknown for replanted digits, Ten patients with 18 replante d or revascularized digits, who had received a formal sensory reeducat ion program for 1.5 years postoperatively, were reevaluated with movin g two-point discrimination and Semmes-Weinstein pressure threshold tes t after discontinuing sensory reeducation for 1 year. Another four pat ients with seven replanted or revascularized digits, who have never re ceived sensory reeducation after surgery, were also followed up in the same way, After cessation of sensory reeducation, the degree of movin g two-point discrimination became significantly worse in the formal se nsory-reeducated group (P< 0.05) and significantly improved in the gro up without sensory reeducation initially (P < 0.05), whereas it showed a nonsignificant change of Semmes-Weinstein threshold both in the gro up with formal sensory reeducation and without sensory reeducation. Se nsory retraining did influence the progressive change of moving two-po int discrimination, but not in a parallel way with the Semmes-Weinstei n threshold test. (C) 1998 Wiley-Liss, Inc.