Introduction:

Abductor digiti minimi transfer (also known as Huber opposition transfer) allows restoring thumb opposition. This method has several advantages over other opposition transfer techniques, as it replaces the intrinsic muscles of the thumb with another intrinsic muscle of the hypothenar region, thus improving the volume of thenar eminence. It is used preferably in thumb hypoplasia types II and III.

Objective:

To describe the functional results of a series of patients with thumb hypoplasia who underwent Huber opposition transfer.

Materials and methods:

Descriptive, observational study conducted in 11 patients with thumb hypoplasia who underwent Huber opposition transfer and with a minimum follow-up of 6 months. Furthermore, some of these patients had undergone pollicization due to their type of hypoplasia.

Results:

The average age at the time of surgery was 35 months and the average follow-up period was 15.4 months. Average opposition function, according to the modified Kapandji index, improved from 1.63 (range 1-2) to 3.72 (range 2-4).

Conclusion:

Good functional results were obtained using this technique, achieving overall improvement in opposition function according to the Kapandji index. In 9 patients, the index increased to grade 4 and in 1 it went from grade 1 to grade 3; in 1 case, improvement was not significant (grade 1 to grade 2), since the patient presented with finger stiffness associated with VACTERL. Huber opposition transfer allows achieving good functional opposition results in patients with thumb hypoplasia.

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