Abstract
Trigger finger is a common cause of hand disability. There is no consensus as to the superiority of operative versus nonoperative treatment. Here, we perform a bibliometric analysis concerning the 50 most cited articles discussing trigger finger. We performed a search of the ISI Web of Knowledge database in November 2021. Keywords used were: “Trigger finger”, “Trigger digit”, “Flexor tendon entrapment”. The 50 most cited articles were evaluated. The mean number of citations was 58.7 (range 32-183, SD 31.3). All articles were published between 1954 to 2014. The majority were contributed by the Journal of Hand Surgery-American Volume (n = 7). The United States contributed the largest portion of the articles (n = 24). The most common level of evidence was Level IV (n = 19), followed by Level I (n = 11). Twenty-six articles discussed treatment outcomes. The most influential orthopaedic literature on trigger finger evaluated clinical outcomes, took place in the United States, and were published in the Journal of Hand Surgery. There were a significantly greater percentage of level I articles than in alternative bibliometric analyses within the field of hand and upper extremity orthopedics. This allows physicians to apply study results more confidently to their clinical practice.