IS NEEDLE APONEUROTOMY AS EFFECTIVE AS SURGERY ?
A comparison of medical fasciotomy with surgical fasciectomy, reported in 1993 (Badois and Coll.), showed that short-term outcomes were comparable.
The five-year recurrence rate is high (>50%) with both procedures, however, needle fasciotomy can be repeated as often as needed, whereas start again surgical procedure is hazardous.
Another article, reported in 1996 (Lermusiaux and Coll. / 992 hands) confirm the high percentage of good short-term results ( 92% for stage I, 78% for stage II, 71% for stage III, and 57% for stage IV ).
These good results have also been shown in a study published in 1995 by hand surgeons using needle aponeurotomy (Bleton and Coll.).