The efficacy of Trigger Finger treatment: a randomised, controlled, prospective clinical multicenter trial.

Several factors can cause a Trigger Finger. There are two accepted treatments for the Trigger Finger nowadays: corticosteroid injections in the affected tendon sheath and surgical release of the affected tendon sheath under local anaesthesia.
It is known that the surgical release is effective, although in comparison with corticosteroid injections it is thorough, expensive and it has higher complication rate.
In this moment there isn't a reliable trial available to determine the effectiveness of corticosteroid injections for the treatment of Trigger Fingers. The very diverse relapse chances after steroidinjections, known from the mostly retrospective trials, are used as an argument to perform a primary surgical treatment.
We would like to investigate the efficiacy of the treatment of Trigger Fingers by means of a reliable, randomised, controlled, prospective multi-center trial at a large-scale with a long term follow-up.
After completion of the trial we will be able to report on the efficiacy of the 'open' surgical treatment as well as the efficiacy of steroidinjections. We will use this result to create a Trigger Finger protocol taking the efficiacy, co-morbidity and costs aspects in account.

We suspect that Trigger Finger treatment by corticosteroid injections will approach the efficiacy which is reached by the 'open' surgical intervention: surgical release of the A1 pulley.

N/A

1. Up to two injections triamcinolone acetonide A-10 with six weeks interval between each injection in the A1 pulley of the Trigger Finger;

2. 'open' surgical intervention: surgical release of the A1 pulley of the Trigger Finger.