Despite the clear tendency to treat rhizoarthrosis with prosthetic replacement, the operation of trapeziectomy associated or not with ligamentoplasty still has a well-defined role. One possible serious complication, little reported in the literature, is the incorrect removal of the scaphoid.

In our experience, to reduce this risk as much as possible, we use the intersection between the branch of the radial artery and the tendons of the first compartment as a landmark to locate the scapho-trapezial joint. To our knowledge, no article describes this landmark.

This is why we decided, through this study, to check its reliability.

We included all patients — who met our inclusion criteria — who underwent trapeziectomy between April 1, 2021 and April 1, 2024.

In all patients, during the access route to the trapeziectomy, once the radial artery had been solated, a 16G needle was inserted into the capsule at the level of the intersection between the extensor tendons of the first compartment and the branch of the radial artery and subsequently took a shot with the fluoroscope to see if the needle was actually in the scapho-trapezial joint.

Out of 212 operated patients, 186 met our criteria. The 186 (average age of 67 years) patients included were divided as follows according to sex and Eaton Littler stage of rhizoartosis: 127 women and 59 men; 11 (6 W, 5 M) stage 1 - 63 (45 W, 18 M) stage 2 - 79 (56 W, 23 M) stage 3 - 33 (20 W, 13 M) stage 4.

Overall, the landmark was accurate in 178 cases (95,7%). There was no significant difference between men and women (neither in general nor between the various stages); there was no significant difference between stages 1, 2, and 3. Whereas there was a significant difference between the validity of the test in stages 1-2-3 vs stage 4 (P<0.00001).

We can conclude that the presented landmark is handy, being why the authors of this study always use it. It is indisputably valid in stages 1-2-3, and it is also fine to use it in stages 4, but with a little more attention given that sometimes it can be a little less precise.