From uchicagomedicine.org
The osteoarthritis pain in Mary Wolf’s left thumb was so sharp and intense, it sometimes woke her up in the middle of the night.
It throbbed when she tried to grip or pinch things, making two of her favourite activities — cooking and knitting — nearly impossible.
Daily tasks were also tough: To close a sandwich bag, she would have to tuck it under her left arm and use her “good” right thumb to help zip it shut.
Steroid shots every four months brought temporary relief over a period of three years, but they became less effective over time.
“The pain was ridiculously impacting my life,” said Wolf, 63, a retired fifth grade teacher.
Last spring, Wolf found new hope.
Jeffrey G. Stepan, MD, MSc, her orthopaedic surgeon at the University of Chicago Medicine, became one of only a few hand surgeons in the United States to train on an innovative new implant surgery that replaces a patient’s arthritic thumb joint with a small, prosthetic version.
When the surgery became available at UChicago Medicine in May 2026, Wolf didn’t hesitate.
“I said, ‘Sign me up,’” she said. “I had to do something drastic to change this.”
How does a thumb osteoarthritis implant work?
Thumb osteoarthritis, which causes joint pain at the base of the thumb, is a common condition that affects millions of Americans. It occurs when the protective cartilage that cushions the end of the bones wears away, causing bones to rub against one another.
It’s most common in people over age 50, and it affects women more often than men, according to the American Society for Surgery for the Hand, a medical specialty society.
Treatment starts with a thumb brace, hand therapy and steroid injections.
If the thumb pain persists, patients may choose to have thumb carpometacarpal joint trapeziectomy — a surgery that involves removing the arthritic joint. Although the surgery is effective and has high satisfaction rates, recovery can be painful and take 6 to 9 months, Stepan said.
Meanwhile, doctors in Europe have been performing a simpler and more efficient version of this surgery, using an implant called TOUCH CMC 1 Prosthesis, since 2018.
“Instead of removing the arthritic joint, they were replacing the joint with this implant,” Stepan explained.
Patients who had this implant were pain-free and regained thumb movement in less than six weeks, Stepan said. But the implant, which uses a ball-and-socket design, wasn’t approved for use in the U.S.
When Stepan heard that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration was going to approve this implant, he flew to France in April 2026 to learn how to do the surgery. He is one of only a handful of surgeons in the U.S. who are trained and approved to perform this surgery.
Thumb osteoporosis joint replacement surgery ‘absolutely life-changing’
Wolf had her surgery at the University of Chicago Medical Center in Hyde Park on May 20, 2026, and she was in and out of the hospital in less than five hours.
She received twilight anaesthesia and a nerve block in her shoulder, so she didn’t have feeling in her left arm for 24 hours. But she experienced no side effects. She wore a splint to immobilize her thumb for two weeks, but she was able to move it in “teeny circles” without pain just two days after the surgery.
“I haven’t had any pain since that first night,” she said. “The surgery was absolutely life-changing.”
Since then, Wolf has resumed her cooking and blanket-knitting project.
Stepan, who performed his third thumb osteoporosis joint implant surgery in June, said the option is available for anyone who has struggled with pain in the base of their thumb and wasn’t helped by standard treatments.
“Patients are quickly getting back their strength and getting back their motion,” he said. “Everyone’s been doing really well.”
https://www.uchicagomedicine.org/forefront/orthopaedics-articles/new-thumb-joint-replacement-surgery
