Radial club hand (RCH) is characterized by a wide array of hand and forearm anomalies. Various treatment approaches have been described depending upon the stages of RCH. The major drawback of these studies is that the effectiveness of these interventions was reported on clinical and radiological outcomes. With the increasing focus on patient-centered care nowadays, we wanted to identify the components associated with functioning and evaluate the effectiveness of two surgical procedures on functional outcomes using the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF)-based tools.

We identified 14 children from our records (nine boys, five girls) with a mean age of 5.6 years, classified as Bayne types III–IV and classified them into two groups; those who were operated by centralization (group 1) and ulnarization of the carpus with ulnar shortening osteotomy procedure (group 2). The outcomes were evaluated by the brief ICF core set for the child and youth with cerebral palsy up to the age of 5 and the brief ICF core set for hand conditions for a period of 1 year after surgery.

The results showed that both the operative techniques showed improvement in the structure component (s730-structure of upper extremity). ICF categories of d445-hand and arm use, d530-toileting, and d880-engagement in play showed a change in frequencies of more than 40% after surgery and were maintained till follow-up. However, categories related to muscle power functions (b730), muscle tone (b735), fine hand use (d440), hand and arm use (d445) and engagement in play (d880) showed no significant improvement (p > 0.05). There were no differences between both the surgical procedures in improving the outcomes (p > 0.05).

We conclude that surgical techniques may be more appropriate to improve the cosmetic or structural appearance of the upper extremity than functioning.