Current Opinion of the Treatment for Thumb Basal Joint Osteoarthritis

Abstract

 Thumb carpometacarpal (CM) osteoarthritis is the one of the most common diseases in hand surgery. Various surgical procedures have been developed such as simple trapeziectomy, arthrodesis, ligament reconstruction tendon arthroplasty and implant arthroplasty. Recently, arthroscopic intervention was reported, and a new type of arthroplasty using suture button was proposed.

 From 2003 to 2012, we performed tendon suspension arthroplasty, which was developed by Watson. However, we experienced hyperextension deformity of the metacarpophalangeal (MP) joint postoperatively in several cases. MP joint hyperextension led not only to weakness of pinching power, but also to unacceptable appearances, especially in female patients. Therefore, since 2012, we have performed a new procedure which modified Watson’s procedure to prevent MP joint hyperextension. In this article, we summarize the historical perspective of surgical procedures for CM osteoarthritis, and we describe our new procedure and its results.