Hematoma and Distraction Arthroplasty for Basal Thumb Osteoarthritis

Many surgeons have abandoned the simple trapeziectomy for the treatment of thumb basal joint arthritis secondary to reports of postoperative weakness. More recently, ligament reconstruction techniques have been the favored surgical procedure for the treatment of trapezial arthritis, but the necessity of such an extensive procedure that requires tendon harvest and rerouting has come into question. Simple trapeziectomy modified with distraction pinning, without interposition grafting, allows for a stable, pain-free thumb that has superior strength and motion when compared with the more complicated ligament reconstruction techniques.