Pollicisation of the index finger without interosseous muscle or extensor tendon repositioning in isolated thumb hypoplasia/aplasia

Abstract

As a part of the pollicisation procedure, previous authors describe interosseous muscle and/or extensor tendon repositioning. The benefit of these tendon transfers has never been investigated despite the fact that other authors have used different techniques or do not perform some of these transfers routinely. In this paper, 16 children (17 hands) with isolated aplasia/hypoplasia of the thumb underwent the pollicisation procedure without any intrinsic tendon transfers. Surgery was performed at a mean age of 22 months and the mean follow-up time was 5 years. No early operative complications were seen. At final follow-up, the overall function and appearance of the hand was satisfactory in all patients. The results of our retrospective study warrant further investigation of these tendon transfers in a prospective comparative long-term study.