The influence of evidence in the surgical treatment of thumb basilar joint arthritis.

Background For surgical treatment of thumb carpometacarpal (CMC) arthritis, current evidence suggests that simple trapeziectomy is as effective and may be safer than trapeziectomy and ligament reconstruction (LR) with or without tendon interposition (TI). We examined whether current practice patterns in the surgical treatment of thumb CMC arthritis reflect adoption of simple trapeziectomy as best practice. Furthermore, we investigated whether surgeon preferences and third-party payer patterns are associated with use of simple trapeziectomy.