Current treatment of ganglion of the wrist

Ganglion of the wrist is one of the the most common lesions of the hand. The cause of pain in an occult dorsal wrist ganglion has been linked to compression of the posterior interosseous nerve at the wrist. A case is presented in this paper and the pathoanatomy discussed. Ultrasound-guided aspiration after hyaluronidase instillation provided a useful alternative to surgery with a high success rate. Arthroscopic decompression for dorsal and palmar wrist ganglia offered the patient the benefit of smaller surgical scars and a high success rate. A description of the surgical techniques, pathoanatomy, and early results of the authors and a review of the literature is presented.