Features of minimally invasive ligamentotomy of the thumb A1 pulley (our experience)

Objective. Stenosing tenosynovitis (Nott’s disease, "trigger finger") is one of the most common pathologies of the hand which hand surgeons and orthopedic surgeons have to deal with. A variety of conservative methods are used to treat “trigger finger", including individual splinting and corticosteroid injections. Surgical treatment consists of dissection of the A1 pulley. Traditionally, the operation starts with a small incision. However, in recent years, a number of articles have appeared that report that percutaneous ligamentotomy on II-V fingers is a safe and effective alternative to an open surgery. Due to anatomical features, some authors do not recommend performing a percutaneous ligamentotomy on the thumb, fearing the damage it can cause to the digital nerves.

The purpose of this research is to show that the minimally invasive needle ligamentotomy of the thumb A1 pulley is a safe procedure and to conduct the approbation of the offered method.

Material and methods. The research consisted of two parts - anatomical and clinical. In the anatomical part of the research (8 upper extremities of 4 unfixed corpses), we proposed the safe accesses in order to conduct percutaneous ligamentotomy of the thumb A1 pulley.

In the clinical part of the study we tested a minimally invasive ligamentotomy and analysed the results of treatment in 109 patients with stenosing tenosynovitis of the thumb II-IV stage by Green aged from 28 to 80. All patients received minimally invasive ligamentotomy of the A1 pulley with 18g needle under local anaesthesia (120 surgeries). Average length of the operation was several minutes. All procedures were performed outpatiently. Evaluation of the results of treatment was performed using the Visual Analog Scale (VAS) and Gilberts questionnaire. The observation period was from 12 months up to 24 months.

The results. In most cases both clinical and esthetical results were excellent. It was possible to eliminate the “trigger” of the finger intraoperatively for all patients. However, 6 (5.5%) patients complained about the presence of residual clicks due to incomplete dissection of the ligament at the control examination a week later. Percutaneous ligamentotomy was conducted again on all patients with successful outcomes. No recurrence of the disease was noted. 17% of patients tend to complain about pain in the A1 pulley localization during the first week after the operation.

Conclusion. The empirical findings prove the efficiency and safety of percutaneous ligamentotomy of the thumb A1 pulley. One of the merits of this technique is a lower risk of postoperative complications and lower treatment expenses. This technique can be successfully used in the practice of hand surgeons in the outpatient setting that have the experience with the conduction of open operations.

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