Early failures with a spheric interposition arthroplasty of the thumb basal joint

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to report the early results with the Orthosphere (Wright Medical Technology Inc, Arlington, TN) spheric interpositional arthroplasty. Methods: Six women and 1 man had Orthosphere arthroplasty between 2000 and 2001. The mean age at the time of surgery was 52 years (range, 24-73 years) and the mean duration of clinical and radiographic follow-up evaluation was 33 months (range, 29-44 months). Results: Six of 7 Orthosphere implants subsided into the trapezium resulting in pain, weakness, and stiffness. There was 1 implant dislocation. Five patients have had revision surgery to trapezial excision ligament reconstruction and tendon interposition arthroplasty. Of the remaining 2 patients I is contemplating presently revision surgery and the other is experiencing mild residual pain. No patients were satisfied completely with their Orthosphere results. Conclusions: In our experience the early outcome of the Orthosphere interpositional arthroplasty has been unacceptable. We no longer use the device at our institutions. Copyright (C) 2004 by the American Society for Surgery of the Hand.