[Arthroscopy in the diagnosis and therapy of wrist disorders]

Arthroscopy of the wrist is a method facilitating the establishment of diagnosis in patients with wrist complaints which may also serve for surgical management of some of the causes of wrist pathology. The author presents his first experience with carpal arthroscopy as a diagnostic method as well as a therapeutic technique performed in one or two stages.

A total of 34 patients, 12 women and 22 men, in the age range of 14 to 64 years, underwent carpal arthroscopy. This was performed to treat acute or chronic conditions in 16 and 18 patients, respectively.

Arthroscopy was carried out with the hand in vertical traction, using distraction forces of 50 to 70 N, from the approach between the third and fourth or/and the fourth and fifth extensor compartments, in order to inspect the mediocarpal joint by an arthroscope with a diameter of 2.4 mm. Neither a tourniquet nor a pump was employed. When a lesion was detected, it was treated by arthroscopy or an open procedure in one surgical procedure. When indicated, further surgical intervention followed.

The arthroscopic inspection revealed triangular fibrocartilagenous complex (TFCC) lesions in 18 patients. Injury to the scaphoid-lunate (SL) ligament was found in 16 patients. One patient had a combined lesion of the triquetral-lunate and SL ligaments, two showed a SL lesion together with a distal radius fracture, three were diagnosed with pseudoarthrosis of the scaphoid bone and one with synovitis after rheumatoid arthritis. In two patients, adhesions in the radiocarpal joint following a fracture of the distal radius were found and shaved. A total of 22 patients were treated by arthroscopic surgery; 19 underwent open procedures in one stage and five were indicated for secondary surgery.

Wrist arthroscopy has been reported in the literature as the only method that can reveal damage to SL ligaments not shown by X-ray or magnetic resonance imaging examination. During arthroscopy, several interventions can directly be carried out by this procedure, such as treatment of the TFCC, and thus relieve the patient's complaints. Arthroscopy is irreplaceable in the diagnosis of dynamic carpal instability or injury to TFCC in ulnar-carpal impingement. Our experience suggests that arthroscopically-guided osteosynthesis of the distal radius has great prospects.

In our hospital acute arthroscopy is indicated when carpal connective tissue lesions, potentially leading to wrist instability, are suspected, when damage to carpal ligaments is found by X-ray examination or when an acute TFCC lesion is suspected. Arthroscopically-guided osteosynthesis of the distal radius appears to be a prospective method. In patients with chronic complaints, wrist arthroscopy is indicated in suspected TFCC lesions with ulnar-carpal impingement, in chronic carpal synovitis, and before sperious operations on the carpal bones in order to ascertain the state of cartilage and plan the appropriate surgery.