Continuous postoperative catheter irrigation is not necessary for the treatment of suppurative flexor tenosynovitis.

The records of 75 patients admitted with pyogenic flexor tenosynovitis at two academic centers were reviewed. The functional outcomes of patients who received intraoperative irrigation only (n = 20) and those that had both intraoperative irrigation and continuous postoperative irrigation (n = 55) were compared. There were no statistically significant differences between the outcomes in the two groups.