Osteoarthritis of the Big Toe? Don't Wait to Operate
(MedPage Today) -- Patients with painful osteoarthritis of the first metatarsophalangeal joint (MTPJ) -- aka the big toe -- would do better with immediate surgery than letting nature take its course, results of a randomized trial indicated...
A Finnish study suggests that surgery may be more beneficial than waiting for people suffering from painful osteoarthritis in the big toe. In a randomized trial involving 90 patients, those who underwent joint fusion, known as arthrodesis, experienced a significant reduction in walking-related pain compared to those who opted for watchful waiting.
After one year, pain scores had dropped from an average of 6 out of 10 at the start to 1.3 in the intervention group, while the control group's scores remained at 5.7. This marked improvement translated to a mean adjusted difference of 5.0 points between the two groups, surpassing the clinically significant threshold of 1.7 points.
The researchers concluded that immediate surgery should be considered for patients aged 40 or older with persistent pain in the big toe for a year or more.
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