Abstract
Nineteen patients have been treated by operative and conservative methods since 1978. Sixteen of these patients were reviewed directly in the follow-up period from 8 months to 10 years and 5 months. Functional and radiological assesments were performed respectively. The former included pain, tenderness, range of motion, hand grasping power, and pinch strength. The latter included the evaluation of the size of the fragment of the volar lip in preoperative radiographs, the distance between both fragments and the remains of dislocation of the base of the first metacarpal in postoperative radiographs, and osteoarthritis in follow-up radiographs. Five of sixteen patients showed slight osteoarthritis, but functional results were good in all. It was suspected that the occurrence of osteoarthritis was associated with the remains of dislocation.
