UT Health San Antonio is one of the limited sites in the U.S. with surgeons trained to perform total thumb arthroplasty procedures.
In the procedure, surgeons replace both sides of the arthritic thumb joint with a small implant, according to a Jan. 21 news release from UT Health San Antonio.
The traditional surgery removes a small wrist bone to relieve pain, which requires months of recovery time and can lead to reduced grip strength.
The FDA recently approved the procedure after seven years of positive data from patients in Europe.
Ryan Rose, MD, and Brian Sager, MD, performed the first thumb arthroplasty surgery at the UT Health San Antonio Multispecialty and Research Hospital on Dec. 19, the release said.
