An unusual complication following surgical treatment of deQuervain's disease

Symptoms of deQuervain's disease were relieved by incision of the first dorsal compartment sheath in a 43-year-old hospital employee. Three months after the operation she developed dysaesthesias in the distribution of the superficial radial nerve with wrist extension and thumb abduction. At reoperation the tendons of the first dorsal compartment were found to glide dorsally onto a fibrous remnant of the sheath and to elevate the overlying superficial radial nerve. Excision of the fibrous ridge resulted in relief of symptoms. The complication could have been avoided, in retrospect, by excising the sheath or by incising it at its dorsal attachment.