ECRL--a wrist extensor with multiple uses in deformity correction.

ABSTRACT

Extensor carpi radialis longus muscle has been used in various types of procedures for corrective hand surgery and is a favored muscle for correction of finger clawing due to ulnar nerve palsy in leprosy because its removal leaves an insignificant motor deficit and gives a linear scar at the donor site. It is usually not paralyzed in leprosy. The muscle, being phasic, is easy to re-educate. The excursion of the muscle is similar to lumbrical muscles which it substitutes. Since the muscle is dorsally located, the transfer does not lose tension due to adaptive wrist flexing habit. Its tendon is usually thick enough, can be split into two and used as graft to elongate the muscle-tendon unit or for ligament reconstruction in cases of trapezio-metacarpal joint arthritis.