Houston Endowment Gives $6 Million to UT-Houston

Children with congenital and other hand problems now can visit a specialized clinic at Texas Children’s Hospital for treatment.

"Severe hand conditions can be devastating for a child because they can greatly hinder his or her performance," said Dr. David Netscher, chief of Texas Children’s hand surgery clinic and professor in Baylor College of Medicine’s division of plastic surgery. "It’s our job to help a patient regain function of the hand like any other child, and opening this type of concentrated clinic allows us to do so."

The clinic, the first pediatric hand center at Texas Children’s, offers leading-edge technology to patients with congenital hand and upper-extremity anomalies - hand problems developed at birth or as a result of a trauma or infection that has left the hand unusable. Anomalies include cerebral palsy, syndactyly (webbed fingers) and arthrogryposis (multiple joint shortening).

Other services provided at the clinic are microvascular surgery and distraction lengthening. Patients who require hand surgery are treated at Texas Children’s ambulatory surgery center, which is one of a few in the nation with the resources to treat any pediatric injury or congenital anomaly that requires plastic surgery.

"Patients who come to Texas Children’s hand surgery clinic have the advantage of being treated by not just one doctor whose focus is hand care, but an entire multidisciplinary team that supervise all aspects of each child’s treatment program," said Netscher.

The hand surgery clinic is located in Texas Children’s new Clinical Care Center. For information call (832) 822-3195, or visit www.texaschildrenshospital.org, then click on patient care centers.

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©2006 Texas Medical Center

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