Prognostic factors related to recurrence of trigger finger after open surgical release in adults

Introduction: Recurrent trigger finger after surgery is one of the major adverse events. However, studies to identify factors associated with recurrence after open surgical release in adult trigger finger patients are still limited.

Purpose: To identify factors associated with recurrent trigger finger after open surgical release.

Methods: This 12-year retrospective observational study included 723 patients with 841 trigger fingers who underwent open A1 pulley release. Patients were categorized into 2 groups: those with recurrent trigger finger after surgery and those without. Associations between potential predictors including age, sex, duration of symptoms, occupation status, active smoker status, number of steroid injections before surgery, and types of comorbidities and the outcome of interest, recurrence of trigger finger, were examined using univariable and multivariable analyses. The results are presented as hazard ratios (HR) with a 95% confidence interval (95% CI).

Results: The recurrence rate after trigger finger release was 2.39% (20 of 841 fingers). After adjusting for confounders, more than 3 steroid injections before surgery and manual labor were the independent predictors of recurrent trigger finger (HR = 4.87, 95%CI = 1.06-22.35 and HR = 3.43, 95%CI = 1.15-10.23, respectively).

Conclusions: More than 3 steroid injections before surgery and manual labor increase the risk of recurrent trigger finger after an open A1 pulley release. There may be limited benefit in administering a fourth steroid injection.