Chronic instability of the metacarpophalangeal joint of the thumb without arthrosis. Apropos of 16 cases

A series of 16 cases of chronic instability of the metacarpo-phalangeal joint of the thumb is presented. The authors begin by summarising the two main surgical procedures used in such cases: ligamentous reconstruction and arthrodesis. In our series, a ligamentous reconstruction with Smith's procedure was performed in 13 patients, a primary arthrodesis in 2 patients and a secondary suture in one patient. The results are analysed in 15 patients (7 women, 8 men) with a minimum followup time of two years. Failure was noted in 4 cases treated by ligamentous reconstruction (3 men and 1 woman). An arthrodesis was subsequently performed in all these patients. There were therefore a total of 6 arthrodesis and 8 ligamentous reconstruction to review. Ligamentous reconstruction gave better functional results than arthrodesis in particular as regards mobility, opposition of the thumb and strength of pinch grip (decreased by 50% with arthrodesis). In manual workers the use of ligamentous reconstruction in these cases was shown in our series to give inconstant results.