Introduction and Objectives: Thumb arthritis, also called basal joint arthritis, or carpometacarpal (CMC) arthritis is a frequent pathological condition for which there are a great variety of surgical treatments. One of the most used is resection-suspension arthroplasty using the tendon of the Flexor Carpi Radialis (FCR), whole or only a hemitendon. Up to now, the clinical repercussion that sacrificing this tendon may cause has not been studied. Our aim was to compare the repercussion this has on the force and mobility of the hand, with a preserved FCR, both when the hemitendon is used and when the complete tendon is used.

Materials and Methods: We analyzed the force, mobility, clinical and radiological result in a total of 32 cases of thumb arthritis operated by simple trapezectomy, trapezectomy + plasty with FCR hemitendon and trapezectomy + plasty with complete FCR tendon. A special device has been designed to quantify the force of flexion of the wrist in these patients.

Results: Thumb mobility, and grasp strength were more limited in patients in which simple trapezectomy was performed, and no differences were seen between the use of hemitendon or complete FCR. There was no greater loss of wrist flexion force with the use of complete FCR, in comparison with the other techniques.

Discussion and Conclusions: The use of complete FCR does not have any greater clinical repercussions than the use of FCR hemitendon.