[Clinical and experimental study of shortening osteotomy of forearm bone(s) in Kienböck's disease]

Sixty-nine patients with Kienböck's disease were surgically treated from 1972 to 1987. Eleven patients with ulnar minus variance, 48 with neutral variance and 10 with ulnar plus variance were treated with shortening osteotomy of the radius. Ten patients with ulnar plus variance were treated with shortening osteotomy of both the radius and ulna. All cases were followed up from one to eleven years. Satisfactory improvement was attained in 85% of cases. Radiologic evaluation showed revascularization of the lunate in 94%. Collapse of the lunate did not progress in 60%. In 14 wrists of adult Japanese monkeys, ulnar minus and plus variants were created, and radial-ulna compression force was measured with intraarticular pressure sensors. Intraarticular forces were then measured following shortening osteotomy of the forearm bone(s). These procedures uniformly decreased pressure in the radial-ulna joint.