Radiographic Patterns of Radiocarpal and Midcarpal Arthritis

The purpose of this study was to determine the specific locations of radiocarpal and/or midcarpal joint osteoarthritis (RC/MC OA).

A total of 1,007 wrist radiographs were screened for the presence of RC/MC OA. The locations of the degenerative changes were identified. In addition, the observers then determined whether the observed patterns fell under the scapholunate advanced collapse (SLAC) pattern.

The SLAC pattern did not represent the majority of observed degenerative changes. Almost one-third of the patients had degenerative changes present at the radiolunate or scaphocapitate articulations in the absence of radioscaphoid changes. Women have a lower risk of arthritis compared with men (odds ratio, 0.306; P < 0.05). Increasing age correlated with the presence of arthritis (odds ratio, 1.05; P < 0.05).

Contrary to the previous reports in the literature, our cohort demonstrated that <50% of wrist OA fell into the category of SLAC arthritis.