This article is more than 5 years old. Information may no longer be current.

Higher recurrence rate of Dupuytren’s contracture seen with needle fasciotomy

Add topic to email alerts

Receive an email when new articles are posted on

Please provide your email address to receive an email when new articles are posted on .

Subscribe

Added to email alerts

You've successfully added to your alerts. You will receive an email when new content is published.

Click Here to Manage Email Alerts

You've successfully added to your alerts. You will receive an email when new content is published.

Click Here to Manage Email Alerts

Back to Healio

We were unable to process your request. Please try again later. If you continue to have this issue please contact customerservice@slackinc.com.

Back to Healio

Although patients with Dupuytren’s contractures may prefer percutaneous needle fasciotomy due to its less invasive nature and shorter recovery time, researchers in the Netherlands found that the treatment has a higher rate of recurrence than limited fasciectomy.

The study, conducted by Annet L. van Rijssen, MD, and colleagues, was recently published in Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery. According to a press release, the research is the first to compare long-term outcomes of the procedures.

Rijssen and colleagues studied 111 patients with advanced Dupuytren’s disease and severely limited hand motion. Four patients had bilateral procedures, leading to a total of 115 hands in the study. Investigators randomly assigned the participants to undergo either needle fasciotomy or limited fasciectomy, and the results were assessed 5 years postoperatively.

Contracture recurrence occurred more frequently in the needle fasciotomy group, which had an 85% recurrence rate compared to a 21% rate in the limited fasciectomy group. Contractures also occurred earlier in hands treated with the needle procedure, the authors noted, with these contractures occurring within 1 year or 2 years of the initial procedure.

Patients in the limited fasciectomy group had higher satisfaction scores, though the authors noted that most patients who underwent needle fasciotomy were also satisfied. Following the development of recurrent contractures, many patients opted to undergo another needle fasciotomy rather than the fasciectomy procedure, the release noted.

“We believe that needle fasciotomy is best suitable for well-informed elderly patients with relatively mild contractures … and for those who are willing to accept a higher recurrence risk in the context of a lower complication rate, fast recovery and minimal invasiveness,” the study authors wrote.

Reference:

• Van Rijssen AL, ter Linden H, Werker PMN. Five-year results of a randomized clinical trial on treatment in Dupuytren’s disease: Percutaneous needle fasciotomy versus limited fasciectomy. Plast Reconstr Surg. 2012. doi: 10.1097/PRS.0b013e31823aea95.

Follow OrthoSuperSite.com on Twitter