Abstracts Posters SICOT-SOF meeting Gothenburg 2010 _2_

Poster
Topic: Minimally Invasive Surgery - Hand/Wrist
Abstract number: 23086
THE DIAGNOSTIC VALUE OF WRIST ARTHROSCOPY IN PATIENTS WITH
CHRONIC WRIST PAIN
Devendra MAHADEVAN 1 , Tom VANNIASINGHAM 2 , Nikos REISSIS 2
1 University Hospitals of Leicester, Leicester (UNITED KINGDOM), 2 Watford General
Hospital, Watford (UNITED KINGDOM)
A retrospective analysis of 44 cases over a five year period was undertaken to
evaluate the diagnostic benefits of wrist arthroscopy. We investigated patients who
underwent wrist arthroscopy for chronic wrist pain of more than 3 months duration.
75% of these patients had a history of preceding trauma. Patients were between the
ages of 11 and 74 years and 68% were male. During arthroscopy, 98% of patients
had a pathological diagnosis established. The three common diagnoses on wrist
arthroscopy were triangular fibrocartilage complex tear, scapholunate ligament injury
and articular cartilage defects. When compared to other investigations, abnormalities
were detected in only 76% of radiographs, 67% of arthrograms, 64% of MRIs and
16% of bone scans. Wrist arthroscopy proved to be the most sensitive investigation
in establishing a diagnosis for chronic wrist pain. Arthroscopic examination showed
that most patients with chronic wrist pain had ligament and/or articular injury. The
finding of articular cartilage defects in these patients may help to explain why no
pathological lesion has been postulated for many patients with chronic wrist pain.
Arthroscopy is highly operator-dependent but affords the opportunity to determine
pathology and undertake simultaneous surgical treatments.
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