FOOT & ANKLE Copyright © 1984 by the American Orthopaedic Foot and Ankle Society, Inc. Total Joint Prosthetic Arthroplasty of the Great Toe-A 12-Year Experience

This report describes the use of a double-stemmed flexi-ble hinge silicone elastomer implant for use as a total joint replacementfor the metatarsophalangeal joint of the great toe. Experience with this prosthesis has been since 1971 with 103prostheses implanted in 71 patients with a mini-mum follow-up of 12 months and an average follow-up of 7.4years. Of the 71 patients, 40 had osteoarthritis with 64 joints replaced, 22 had rheumatoid arthritis with 29 joints replaced, four patients were revised from a failed exci-sional hemiarthroplasty, three patients with four joints involved were revised from a failed silicone implant hem-iarthroplasty, and two patients had a surgically ar-throdesed metatarsophalangeal joint taken down and re-vised to a total joint arthroplasty. Of the total number o