[Results of surgical treatment for Dupuytren contracture]

Early and late results of surgical treatment for Dupuytren contracture within 53 hands in 47 patients aged 19-72 (mean 58) are presented. Early results depended on magnitude of deformity and late ones (3-7 years after surgery) depended on recurrence of the contracture. In patients who had rheumatoid arthritis or the results were slightly worse; pathological changes within the hand were to blame and not the recurrence of contracture itself. No difference in histopathology of this condition was observed between rheumatoid arthritis-group- and ankylosing spondylitis patients.