Hemi-hamate Arthroplasty: A Cutting-Edge Solution for Devastating Finger Joint Injuries A severe fracture-dislocation that shatters the middle joint of your finger (the PIP joint) is a challenging surgical problem. The traditional outcome for such a devastating injury is often a stiff, fused finger with a permanent loss of motion. For anyone who relies on their hands—an […]
A severe fracture-dislocation that shatters the middle joint of your finger (the PIP joint) is a challenging surgical problem. The traditional outcome for such a devastating injury is often a stiff, fused finger with a permanent loss of motion. For anyone who relies on their hands—an athlete, a musician, a skilled worker—this can be a career-ending prospect.
But what if you could rebuild the joint instead of fusing it? The Hemi-hamate Arthroplasty is an advanced, cutting-edge procedure that does exactly that. It uses a “living spare part” from your own hand to reconstruct a new, smooth joint surface, offering the potential to preserve motion in a situation where it would otherwise be completely lost.
This is one of the more technically demanding procedures in hand surgery. As a Harvard-trained specialist in Reconstructive Plastic Surgery and Microsurgery, Dr. Rod French is a subspecialist in solely hand and wrist surgery and able toperform this life-changing operation.
The Hemi-hamate Arthroplasty is a clever biological solution to a devastating mechanical problem. Reconstructive plastic surgery is the art of “replacing ‘like with like’.” The hamate is one of the small carpal bones in your wrist, and a portion of it has a shape and cartilage surface that is a near-perfect match for the base of the finger’s middle bone (the middle phalanx).
In this procedure, that small, non-essential piece of the hamate is harvested and carefully cut and contoured to be an exact match to the defect of the damaged area in the base of the middle phalanx. This non-vascularized bone graft is meticulously fixed into place, creating a new, living, and perfectly smooth joint surface. The goal is to replace the shattered joint surface with a living, biological implant from your own body, preserving the potential for pain-free motion. Because the donor piece of hamate bone is taken from a non-load-bearing area, the donor site at the wrist heals with no change in function.
Hemi-hamate Arthroplasty is a very specific solution for a catastrophic injury. You may be a candidate if you have:
Hemi-hamate Arthroplasty is a highly technical procedure performed by specialized hand and wrist surgeons. Accessing a surgeon with this skillset in the public system can involve a prohibitive wait, during which time your finger joint can become permanently stiff, scarred, and unsalvageable for motion-preserving surgery.
Choosing private care provides immediate access to Dr. French’s world-class expertise. It ensures that this complex reconstruction can be performed within the optimal window, before irreversible stiffness sets in. For a professional whose career depends on their hand function, this timely access can be the difference between returning to your craft and a permanent disability.
The recovery from a Hemi-hamate Arthroplasty is a long and intensive process that requires a true partnership between you, your surgeon, and your hand therapist.
It is a highly technical procedure where a small, expendable piece of your own hamate bone (a wrist bone)is used to rebuild a shattered finger joint surface.
The goal of this procedure is to preserve or restore motion to a joint that is too badly damaged for a standard repair. A fusion eliminates pain but also permanently eliminates all motion at that joint.
Recovery is extensive. It involves a significant period of immobilization, followed by many months of intensive, specialized hand therapy. A return to high-impact activities can take 6 months or more.
This is a highly complex procedure with risks including failure of the bone graft to heal, stiffness, and infection.
