Orthopaedic MD

Mannerfelt syndrome refers to rupture of the flexor pollicis longus tendon from attrition caused by a bony spur in the carpal tunnel.
Synonyms and related keywords: Mannerfelt lesion, flexor pollicis longus tendon rupture, flexor tendon rupture, rheumatoid arthritis lesion
Danikas & Neumeister 2003

Rheumatoid arthritis is the most common underlying etiology of tendon rupture in the hand and wrist and is the usual clinical setting in which the term Vaughan-Jackson syndrome is used. O. J. Vaughan-Jackson's first report of extensor tendon rupture described 2 elderly laborers with degenerative arthritis of the distal radioulnar joint (DRUJ) (Vaughan-Jackson, 1948). He found that the tendons were frayed and disrupted directly over a bony prominence projecting from the head of the ulna in both cases. In a subsequent report that appeared a decade later (Vaughan-Jackson, 1958), he described the process of attritional rupture of the digital extensor tendons in the rheumatoid hand with which his name has become associated. Vaughan-Jackson syndrome is the disruption of the digital extensor tendons, beginning on the ulnar side with the extensor digiti minimi (EDM) and extensor digitorum communis (EDC) tendon of the small finger. If the underlying pathology is not treated, sequential rupture of the ring, long, and index finger EDC tendons occurs; ultimately, rupture of the extensor indicis proprius may follow
Synonyms and related keywords: rupture of the digital extensor tendons, extensor tendon rupture, distal radioulnar joint, DRUJ, rheumatoid arthritis, RA, tendon rupture, ruptured tendon, PIN palsy, posterior interosseous nerve palsy, Mannerfelt syndrome
John A McAuliffe, MD 2006