Trapezio-metacarpal joint prostheses in the treatment of the first carpo-metacarpal joint osteoarthritis

INTRODUCTION: Trapezio-metacarpal joint osteoarthritis is a common cause of pain and functional disability of the hand. Currently, trapeziectomy with tendon interposition or suspension arthroplasty is considered the most effective surgical procedure. The aim of this study was to carry out an updated systematic review of the literature about TMC joint replacement with dual mobility prosthesis to indagate its clinical outcomes and to understand if it could be the future standard treatment of the rizarthrosis. EVIDENCE ACQUISITION: The present meta-analysis and its procedures were organized, conducted, and reported in accordance with Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines and was conducted on the PubMed electronic databases, aiming to identify articles that examine the treatment of rizarthrosis using studies published in English-language. EVIDENCE SYNTHESIS: A total of 1077 potentially relevant citations were identified. After the application of criteria of selection, a total of 10 articles were eventually included in the present review. Each study used different types of pros-thesis, different inclusion and exclusion criteria, different protocols and considered various times of follow-up. Because of the disparity amongst data sets, no statistical analysis could be performed. CONCLUSIONS: In our study, there was no possibility to determinate the superiority of the clinical outcomes of the TMC prostheses, compared to other types of surgical treatment of rizarthrosis, but there was however the possibility to observe that the prostheses promise encouraging clinical results, thanks to high satisfaction rate of the patient and the excellent and rapid recovery of the hand function.