Eight patients with tetraplegia at the sixth cervical level had ten
flexor pollicis longus tenodeses performed to create a key grip. Two of the
patients also had tendon transfers to create active finger flexion; these
failed. The remaining six patients were objectively evaluated by the
hand-function test of Jebsen et al. to measure gains in hand function. All
patients improved postoperatively, the average improvement being 31 per
cent. Although these patients did not add many new hand activities to their
repertoire, they showed increased speed and ease of pre-existing hand
functions. Three patients did gain the ability to self-catheterize,
enabling two of them to live totally independent life-styles. Fixation of
the thumb interphalangeal joint with Kirschner wires did not provide
sufficient long-term stability, and initial arthrodesis of this joint is
recommended in conjunction with the flexor pollicis longus tenodesis.