• Dae-Hee Lee, Seung-Beom Han, Jong-Woong Park, Soon-Hyuck Lee, Kwan-Woo Kim, and Woong-Kyo Jeong.
• Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Korea University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
• J Ultrasound Med. 2011 Feb 1;30(2):197-203.

ObjectivesTrigger finger is frequently treated with tendon sheath injections. This cadaveric study evaluated the accuracy and safety of blind and sonographically guided tendon sheath injections. To our knowledge, a study that precisely mapped the locations of material injected into the tendon sheath has not been reported previously.MethodsA total of 40 fingers (excluding thumbs) of 5 fresh cadavers were used. Methylene blue dye was injected into the flexor tendon sheath using either a blind or sonographically guided injection technique (20 fingers for each technique). The location of the dye was then determined via dissection.ResultsDye was observed only in the tendon sheath (ie, optimal outcome) in 70% of sonographically guided injections and 15% of blind injections (P = .001). Dye was observed in the tendon proper (ie, unsafe outcome) in 30% of blind injections and 0% of sonographically guided injections (P = .02).ConclusionsWe found that sonographically guided tendon sheath injections were more accurate and may be potentially safer than blind injections. These findings suggest that sonographically guided injections should be considered over blind injections when treating trigger finger.

22 keywords...

hide…