Operative versus conservative treatment of trigger thumb in children

Trigger thumb is an uncommon anomaly in children with controversial management ranging from simple observation to surgical release. This study aimed to determine the clinical outcomes of surgical release versus conservative treatment. Data from 407 children with 511 trigger thumbs were collected from their medical records. To compare the final outcomes of conservative and operative treatments, age at onset, sex, affected side, familial history, treatment modality, time to conversion from conservative to surgical treatment, recurrence, and complications were analyzed. Forty-one children were excluded owing to loss during follow-up; thus, 366 children were finally included. Conservative treatment was administered to 96 children, of whom 25 experienced successful result and 68 experienced treatment failure and were subsequently treated surgically. There were no cases of post-operative recurrence. After 24 months of age, operative treatment had better outcomes than conservative treatment, which showed a higher failure rate.