De quervain disease: Ibri technique to avoid superficial radial nerve injury

Tenosynovitis of the first dorsal compartment of the wrist, commonly known as de Quervain disease, is most of the time amenable to conservative treatment in form of splinting and injection of steroids into the compartment. Resistant cases need surgical release of the compartment but with high incidence of incomplete release owing to tendon anomalies and damage to the superficial branch of the radial nerve (SBRN). Many techniques evolved for a period of years, techniques using longitudinal, transverse, and oblique incisions, but damage to SBRN still remains unsolved. The authors describe a technique they have been using since 2004 and, so far, operated on 17 wrists without a single incidence of damage to the SBRN.