Hand/Wrist News

ArthroplastyWatch.com, a website that conveys information about joint arthroplasty product recalls, alerts, and other safety information, was recently launched.

Most patients prefer the return of the normal, although somewhat limited movement that hand and wrist arthroplasty provides. But, according to the presenter of the Watson Jones Lecture at the British Orthopaedic Association Annual Congress, despite improvements in hand and wrist prosthesis designs and surgical techniques, surgeons have continued to observe some complications.

Conventus Orthopaedics announced that it has received 510(k) clearance to market its Conventus DRS Implant for the treatment of distal radius fractures within the United States.

Instratek Inc. has announced the U.S. launch of its Mini Cannulated Titanium Headed and Headless Screw Set.

Investigators found that patients with Medicaid insurance or without health insurance that need elective hand surgery had a harder time accessing local and tertiary care than patients with Medicare and private insurance.

French investigators determined in a double-blind study that anti-tumor necrosis factor (TNF) drugs are ineffective for relieving pain in patients who have severe hand osteoarthritis (OA).

Specialists are more cost-effective than general practitioners in using ultrasound as a confirmatory test to diagnose carpal tunnel syndrome, according to this study.

Although researchers from Japan found that overall 52.3% of patients who underwent release for carpal tunnel syndrome recovered thumb opposition, this recovery was unpredictable in patients older than 50 years.

Swedish researchers contend that digital X-ray radiogrammetry, or DXR, used in standard hand radiographs to measure bone mineral density (BMD) may also be useful for predicting and preventing hip fractures.

CHICAGO — Researchers could predict ulnar variance, radial height and radial inclination using LaFontaine criteria and McQueen’s equation, and found that hooking the volar cortex is an important predictor of final volar tilt, according to a recently presented study.