Prognostic Factors for Nonsurgically Treated Sagittal Band Injuries of the Metacarpophalangeal Joint.

Purpose: The aim of this study was to evaluate the factors that influence the prognosis for patients with sagittal band injuries who were treated nonsurgically.

Methods: A total of 94 patients who had been diagnosed with traumatic sagittal band injury and initially treated with 7 weeks of metacarpophalangeal (MCP) joint extension orthosis wear (5 weeks of full-time followed by 2 weeks of part-time use) were studied. The response to treatment, including finger range of motion (ROM), extensor tendon instability, grip strength, and functional outcome measured as Quick Disabilities of the Arm, Shoulder, and Hand (QuickDASH) score were assessed at 24-week follow-up. The factors that were assessed for their influence on the outcomes were age, sex, occupation, hand dominance, type of injury, injury severity, time to treatment, and the duration of orthosis wear. Potential predictor variables in bivariate analyses were entered into multivariable analyses to determine prognostic indicators of the outcomes.

Results: After 24 weeks' follow-up, 67 patients (71%) achieved resolution of symptomatic tendon translocation with 83% of grip strength and 90% of ROM compared with the unaffected hand. The final mean QuickDASH scores was 15. Twenty-seven patients (29%) had persistently symptomatic tendon subluxation, and of those, 18 (19%) underwent surgical repair. There were significantly more manual laborers in the failure group than in the success group. Subjects in the treatment failure group were older, had longer symptom durations, and were more likely to have grade III injuries than were those in the success group. Multivariable analysis revealed that manual labor, longer symptom duration, and grade III injury were associated with a higher likelihood of treatment failure.

Conclusions: An MCP extension orthosis for sagittal band injury (5 weeks of full-time followed by 2 weeks of part-time use) led to mostly satisfactory results with 71% of patients achieving resolution of symptomatic tendon translocation, but manual labor, longer symptom duration, and grade III injury were associated with a higher likelihood of treatment failure.

Type Of Study/level Of Evidence: Prognostic IV.