Repair of rupture of flexor pollicis longus by "Z" lengthening at the wrist.

Rupture of the flexor pollicis longus in the digital canal can be repaired by one of the following methods: a) end-to-end suture, b) tendon grafting, c) transplantation of the flexor sublimis tendon of the ring finger, d) fixation of the proximal stump to the base of the second phalanx following elongation at the wrist. The efficacy of the first two methods has been confirmed by many authors on the basis of extensive clinical experience, but very few reports have been made on the other two techniques. The authors therefore report eleven cases of repair of the flexor pollicis longus by the technique of elongation at the wrist in the hope that this might be of value and might serve to reawaken interest in this method among specialists in hand surgery.