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Dorsal circular plate and distal radius bone graft yields 100% four corner fusions
At short-term follow-up, patients report little pain, acceptable range of motion vs. uninjured wrists.
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SEATTLE — A second generation dorsal circular plate with distal radius bone graft used for four corner wrist arthrodesis proved effective in a retrospective study of 28 consecutive patients' clinical and radiographic results.
Patients in the study were diagnosed with either scapholunate advance collapse or scaphoid nonunion advance collapse.
In the 26 patients who averaged 47 years of age and who had full follow-up data, range of motion in the treated wrist was 45% of the uninjured side, according to Arnold-Peter C. Weiss, MD.
He presented the study results at the American Society for Surgery of the Hand 62nd Annual Meeting, held here.
"You still can get good results with a circular plate and good technique," he said.
At 2.7 years mean follow-up, patients showed a 100% union rate, according to the study's abstract. Visual Analog Scale scores averaged 1.8 points for pain and 2.6 points for activity, on a scale of 1 to 10.
Weiss stressed the how important using distal radius bone graft was to these results and urged those attempting this plating technique to avoid using scaphoid bone graft alone. To achieve similar results, "Pay attention to the technique," he said.
For more information:
- Arnold-Peter C. Weiss, MD, has indicated he has no financial disclosures related to this study.
- Merrell G, McDermott E, Weiss A-PC. Four corner arthrodesis using a circular plate and distal radius bone grafting: A consecutive case series. #2. Presented at the 62nd Annual Meeting of the American Society for Surgery of the Hand. Sept. 27-29, 2007. Seattle.