International Fingertip Amputation Project
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The ITIP Project is funded by the generosity of the 3M Corporation and Ethicon Inc.
The International Fingertip Amputation Project (nicknamed ITIP) is the outgrowth of a session on fingertip amputations at the 1998 meeting of the International Federation of Societies for Surgery of the Hand (IFSSH) in Vancouver, British Columbia. It was noted that there are no prospective studies in the last few decades on fingertip amputation treatment. The texts and papers on the subject merely recite a variety of ingenious, complicated (and some say unnecessary) ways of treating fingertip amputations. The goal of the Project is to design and execute a prospective study of fingertip amputations with the aim of comparing treatment regimens.
The Chairmanship of the Project was assigned to David Nelson, MD, a hand surgeon in San Francisco. He is charged with initiating, funding, and coordinating the study. Grants have been obtained from the 3M Corporation and from Ethicon, a division of Johnson & Johnson. Nineteen medical centers, in 15 countries, have agreed to participate. The first meeting of the participating centers was in May of 1998 and planning has continued since that time. A study design has been agreed upon and a database template has been formulated. An important part of the study design is that all participating surgeons can treat fingertip amputations in any way that they choose, but all must classify the amputations in the same way (see template) and rate the outcomes in the same way. This should allow the comparison of all types of treatment currently used anywhere in the world.
A unique aspect of the Project is that the data collection will be Internet-based. Each participating surgeon will be able to both upload his own data as well as download the collective data. Uploading of the collective data will be not be allowed, to prevent corruption of the database.
The Project has been opened to new participants since April of 1999. The participation requirements are agreement to use the database template and conformance to the standards of medical research applicable to the place where the study is conducted. In general, this means that the study must be approved by an Institutional Review Board (where applicable) and that all surgeons are duly licensed to perform the surgery.
ITIP is now actively seeking participating surgeons and medical centers. Please examine the database template below. If you feel that you would like to participate in the study, please contact David L. Nelson, MD.
Click here to go to the History and Justification Section.
Click here to go to the template
