Hand/Wrist News

Mayo Clinic investigators found shoulder function improved in older children with obstetric brachial plexus injury after undergoing glenoid reconstruction, tendon transfers and other procedures, according to a study presented at the 2011 Annual Meeting of the American Society for Surgery of the Hand.

Extensor mechanism failure was associated with more than two-thirds of re-operations following non-constrained interphalangeal proximal joint arthroplasty, according to results of a large retrospective study presented at the 2011 Annual Meeting of the American Society for Surgery of the Hand.

A study comparing premenopausal women with distal radius fractures to a control group of women without fractures revealed deterioration in trabecular and cortical bone microarchitecture in those with fractures, despite similar bone density by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry scan.

For this month’s 4 Questions interview, I asked Donald S. Bae, MD, to share some of his recent work and insights into pediatric scaphoid fractures. How many of these do you see in a year? My point is that none of us see many. It is important to recognize this injury and then evaluate the type of fracture. Dr. Bae’s responses give an approach and suggestions that will help you decide if you are going to treat the young patient or refer for a second opinion.

A pairwise meta-analaysis of level 1 studies examining acute minimally displaced and undisplaced scaphoid waist fractures showed no statistically significant difference in the union rates between surgically and nonsurically treated fractures, but found a significantly higher risk of complications in the surgical group.

A double hand transplant was successfully performed for the first time at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia by Penn’s Hand Transplant Program, under the leadership of the Penn Transplant Institute and in collaboration with the Gift of Life Program.

Researchers who reviewed 100 CT scans confirmed that distal radius fractures are statistically more likely to occur at the intervals between ligament attachments rather than at the attachments themselves.

Use of a volar percutaneous transtrapezial approach for fixing scaphoid fractures does not lead to significant radiographic degenerative changes at 6-years follow-up, according to researchers from Belgium.

LAS VEGAS — Distal scaphoid resection arthroplasty provides good long-term results for patients with scaphoid nonunion, according to a study with up to 23 years follow-up presented here at the 2011 Annual Meeting of the American Society for Surgery of the Hand.

A recently presented study does not support regular prophylactic carpal tunnel release during volar plate fixation of distal radius fractures to prevent median neuropathy, and adds that conservative treatment can provide symptom relief for patients who develop postoperative median neuropathy.