SPONTANEOUS RECOVERY OF TR IGGER THUMBS IN

Forty-two children with trigger thumb were reviewed to determine the possibility of spontaneous recovery and the outcome of treatment. There were 22 boys and 20 girls. All of them had a normal physical examination at birth. Ten patients had spontaneous recovery within 3 months of their initial visit. Thirty-two patients underwent surgical release. All of them had satisfactory results. Our findings suggest hat spontaneous recovery of trigger thumb in children is possible and may be related to a traumatic cause for the condition. Delaying operation until after the age of 3 years will not affect the outcome. Journal of Hand Surgery (British and European Volume, 1998) 23B. " 2. " 255-257 Trigger thumb in children is a relatively uncommon con-dition. The common presentation is either with a fixed contracture of interphalangeal joint or snapping of the thumb with passive xtension. The aetiology is still con-troversial. A congenital or hereditary cause has been proposed by several authors (Gharib, 1966; Van Genechten, 1982; Weber, 1979; White and Jensen, 1953; Zadek, 1942), but Sprecher (1949) believed that the flex-ion deformity was the result of trauma. Recently, Rodgers and Waters (1994) have suggested that the deformity isacquired rather than congenital. Slakey and Hennrikus (1996) also supported this view and stated that the appropriate term should be "acquired thumb flexion contracture " rather than congenital trigger thumb. With regard to the prognosis and the type of treat-ment, most authors ecommend surgical release asthey found no case of spontaneous recovery (Fahey an