Clawfinger correction: results of extensor-flexor many tailed operation.

ABSTRACT

The patient with paralytic clawfingers is greatly handicapped. This is especially true for the leprosy patient who needs his hands to earn a living. The inability to 'reach out' with the fingers is the most serious functional loss in an ulnar palsy. This study is a follow up of 155 hands whereby the extensor carpi radialis longus was employed to substitute for this lumbrical-interosseus function. The best results were obtained in hands with full assisted extension. Retropulsion of the metacarpal arch occurred in all hands with total loss of ulnar function.