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The mallet finger is a common hand injury in sports with ball use. Here, we present the case of a goalkeeper with simultaneous bilateral mallet fingers in the third and fourth ray, successfully treated with splinting. Origin and treatment options are discussed.

Introduction Giant cell tumors of the tendon sheath (GCTTS) are very common. More recently, a small number of case reports have identified the presence of multifocal GCTTS in the hand. These case reports have identified the presence of a maximum of two simultaneous lesions of a giant cell tumor affecting the same tendon sheath. We present an exceptionally rare case of simultaneous multiple localized GCTTS in which five lesions were identified on a single tendon simultaneously. This number of lesions on a single tendon has never been previously reported.

Case: A 37-year-old tree surgeon initially complained of pain in the region of the base of the ring and little fingers. A month later, he developed multiple soft tissue swellings at these sites and a soft tissue mass in the center of the palm relating to the left ring finger. A magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan suggested multiple GCTTS. These masses were excised completely without MRI evidence of a recurrence. Multiple GCTTS should be a differential diagnosis of multiple soft tissue swellings in the hand with an MRI scan and complete excision being the appropriate imaging and treatment modality respectively.

Background: Finger injuries caused by green onion cutting machines in Korean kitchens have unique characteristics of an incomplete amputation in which multiple parallel soft tissues and blood vessels are injured in the same form. In this study, we aimed to describe unique finger injuries and to report the treatment outcomes and experiences of performing possible soft tissue reconstructions.

Methods: This case series study included 65 patients (82 fingers) from December 2011 to December 2015. The mean age was 50.5 years. We retrospectively classified the presence of fractures and the degree of damage in patients. The injured area involvement level was categorised as distal, middle or proximal. The direction was categorised as sagittal, coronal, oblique or transverse. The treatment results were compared according to the amputation direction and injury area.

Results: Of the 65 patients, 35 had a partial finger necrosis and needed additional surgeries. Finger reconstructions were performed through stump revision or local or free flap use. The survival rate was significantly lower in patients with fractures. As for the injury area, distal involvement led to 17 out of 57 patients displaying necrosis and all 5 patients showing the same in proximal involvement.

Conclusions: Unique finger injuries caused by green onion cutting machines can easily be treated with simple sutures. Then prognosis is affected by the extent of injury and the presence of fractures. Reconstruction is necessary for finger necrosis owing to extensive blood vessel damage and limitations when making this selection.

Level of Evidence: Level IV (Therapeutic)

Hill-top branching is a bifurcation problem, in which the path-branching occurs exactly at a limit point of the primary path and this unusual bifurcation problem is not well realized in structural stability theory. The present study treats multiple hill-top branching. Tow or more than two bifurcation paths may be emanating from the limit point. The general solution of stiffness equations at the stability point is first described for hill-top branching. Then, the eigenvector-free pinpointing iteration to precisely locate the stability point and the branch-switching procedure to find multiple bifurcation paths will be illustrated briefly. In numerical application, a bench model for multiple hill-top branching is computed.