[Congenital or acquired disposition of the separate compartment of the extensor pollicis brevis tendon associated with stenosing tendovaginitis (de Quervain's disease)? Macroanatomical and fetal-plastinationhistological studies of the first compartment of the wrist].

Our macroanatomical studies with cadaver specimens and clinical findings in the operative treatment of tendovaginitis stenosans de Quervain confirm the high number of anatomical variations in the first dorsal compartment of the wrist. With the help of thick transparent transversal-sections in one of 14 fetal wrists manufactured by plastination histology we found the first compartment with two tendons of the abductor pollicis longus and dorsal of this compartment a connective tissue formation and a separate compartment for the extensor pollicis brevis tendon, proved as a primary anatomical disposition. Macroscopically the septation is always located distal and dorsal-ulnar to the first compartment and is evidentally more common as an intraoperative than an cadaver dissection finding and probably should be considered as a pathological condition. The secondary formation of an incomplete until complete separate septum may depend on the multiple abductor pollicis longus tendons and on chronical inflammatory reaction of the synovialis of the constricted extensor pollicis brevis tendon.