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Association of Clinical Assessments of Hand Function and Quantitative Ultrasound Metrics in First Carpometacarpal Osteoarthritis

  • Original Article
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HSS Journal ®

Abstract

Background

Thumb carpometacarpal (CMC) osteoarthritis (OA), a degenerative condition affecting hand use, is typically evaluated through radiographs and clinical examination. Although this can determine treatment, it is difficult to evaluate functional limitations. Shear wave elastography (SWE) is a quantitative ultrasound technique that characterizes tissue stiffness.

Questions/Purposes

This pilot study aimed to establish data of the SWE findings in the thenar eminence muscles in patients with first CMC OA and correlate these findings with the clinical tests of hand function.

Methods

This cross-sectional study correlated the SWE stiffness of thenar eminence muscles to clinical tests of hand function in patients with first CMC OA and in asymptomatic control subjects, using Spearman’s correlation coefficient. Mean SWE values of the thenar eminence muscles in patients were compared with those in control subjects. The study was performed in a non-profit tertiary care hospital setting. Patients and control subjects were recruited on a volunteer basis.

Results

SWE values in the abductor pollicis brevis and flexor pollicis brevis muscles showed moderate to very strong correlation with multiple measures of hand function. Mean SWE values of the thenar eminence muscles in first CMC OA patients were lower than those in asymptomatic control subjects.

Conclusions

Correlations between mean SWE values in the thenar eminence muscles and clinical measures of hand function suggest decreased function in subjects with less stiff thenar eminence muscles.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Radiology and Imaging, Hospital for Special Surgery, 535 East 70th Street, 3rd Floor, New York, NY, 10021, USA

    O. Kenechi Nwawka MD, Bin Lin Sc.M & Lydia M. Ko MPH

  2. Department of Radiology, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY, USA

    O. Kenechi Nwawka MD

  3. Department of Rehabilitation, Hospital for Special Surgery, New York, NY, USA

    Gwen Weinstock-Zlotnick PH.D, OTR/L, CHT

Authors
  1. O. Kenechi Nwawka MD
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  2. Gwen Weinstock-Zlotnick PH.D, OTR/L, CHT
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  3. Bin Lin Sc.M
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  4. Lydia M. Ko MPH
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Correspondence to O. Kenechi Nwawka MD.

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Conflict of Interest

O. Kenechi Nwawka, MD; Gwen Weinstock-Zlotnick, PhD, OTR/L, CHT; Bin Lin, ScM; and Lydia M. Ko, MPH, declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

Human/Animal Rights

All procedures followed were in accordance with the ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimentation (institutional and national) and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2013.

Informed Consent

Informed consent was waived from all patients for being included in this study.

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Additional information

Level of Evidence: Level IV: Cross-sectional Study

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Nwawka, O.K., Weinstock-Zlotnick, G., Lin, B. et al. Association of Clinical Assessments of Hand Function and Quantitative Ultrasound Metrics in First Carpometacarpal Osteoarthritis. HSS Jrnl 16 (Suppl 2), 420–424 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11420-020-09795-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11420-020-09795-z

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