"Stabilized arthroplasty" for old fracture dislocations of the fifth carpometacarpal joint.

The procedure of stabilized arthroplasty we present in this paper aims at a global functional restoration of old fracture dislocations of the fifth carpometacarpal joint. The conflict is eliminated by resecting the base of the metacarpal, whereas length of the fifth digit ray is restored by fusion to the adjacent fourth metacarpal. Fifth metacarpal mobility is maintained via transfer to the fourth carpometacarpal joint.