VIDEO: Recovery time after carpometacarpal arthritis treatment matters to patients
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BOSTON — In this video from the American Society for Surgery of the Hand Annual Meeting, Joshua Hustedt, MD, said patients with carpometacarpal arthritis recover faster from carpometacarpal denervation than carpometacarpal arthroplasty.
“As most people would expect, the arthroplasty group did well, but the denervation group also did well, and I think the findings of our study primarily show that denervation procedures are equivalent to arthroplasty procedures at least through the first year,” Hustedt told Healio.
Hustedt and colleagues at University of Arizona – Phoenix conducted a prospective patient-choice trial among patients with recalcitrant carpometacarpal (CMC) arthritis symptoms.
Hand Outcomes Questionnaire to follow up patients through 1 year postoperatively.
“In short, the outcomes are equivalent between the two procedures,” Hustedt said, noting VAS scores for pain changed from about 7 to about 2 after treatment in the overall study population.
According to Hustedt, the main difference between the groups’ outcomes is the time it takes to recover from CMC arthroplasty. Patients in the study who underwent CMC arthroplasty reported the time to a symptom-free evaluation was 4.5 months vs. 3.5 weeks in the CMC denervation group.
“In Phoenix, that’s a big deal. People want to get back to golf and activities. Most of them are elderly and giving up 6 months of their life, or 4.5 months to 6 months for an arthroplasty, is a big deal. Them being able to get recovery within 1 month has really been a game changer in my practice,” Hustedt told Healio.
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Hustedt J, et al. Paper 58. Presented at: American Society for Surgery of the Hand Annual Meeting; Sept. 29-Oct. 1, 2022; Boston.
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