Purpose: Trapezium excision and arthroplasty combined with ligament reconstruction as a treatment for first carpometacarpal joint arthritis is known to be associated with synovitis, prosthesis subluxation /dislocation and proximal migration of the metacarpal. To determine the effectiveness of our technique we used the objective and subjective outcome scores to assess the long term results

Methods: Ten patients (11 thumbs) underwent trapezium arthroplasty and ligament reconstruction procedure for grade III/ IV Eaton and Glickel arthritis. The FCR tendon was harvested split into half from proximal to its insertion site. The insertion site was left intact, the split tendon was passed through the first metacarpal base, passed along the radial side of the implant, through scaphoid and back to the 1st metacarpal as an entrapment technique. 7 female and 3 male patients with mean age of 53.9 comprised our series. Off the 10 patients 60% had surgery on their dominant hands.

Results: All the patients had excellent results at a mean follow up of 33.5 months. The mean score (Buck-Gramco) for the tip pinch, grip strength and subjective score for pain, function and dexterity was comparable to the contra-lateral side. The mean tarpezial space ratio calculated from plain x-rays at the follow up was 0.37cm (p< 0.01)|There was evidence of synovitis, prosthesis subluxation or shortening of the thumb.

Conclusions: This new method of securing the prosthesis does offer excellent results with good patient satisfaction