Variations in abductor pollicis longus and extensor pollicis brevis tendons in the Quervain syndrome: a surgical and anatomical study

Abstract

Eighty-two wrists of Thai cadavers and the wrists of 66 patients with de Quervain syndrome were studied, and the variation in the number of tendons and the fibro-osseous tunnel in the first extensor compartment were recorded. The abductor pollicis longus had more than one tendon in 73 of the cadavers (89%) and in 32 of the patients (49%) (p <0.001). The extensor pollicis brevis was a single tendon in 80 (98%) and 62 (94%) of cadavers and patients, respectively. There was division with the septum that made a fibro-osseous tunnel in the first extensor compartment in 30/82 (37%) cadavers and in 38/66 (58%) patients with de Quervain syndrome (p = 0.01). The results indicate that the number of fibro-osseous tunnels and multiple compartments in the first extensor compartment may be associated with a predisposition to de Quervain syndrome.