[Treatment of joint infections of the hand]

Treatment of 27 patients for wrist infections is reported in this paper. Several days of intermittent rinsing and early mobilisation are recommended. 7 days of rinsing and 10 days of immobilisation are done, on average, to cope with uncomplicated articular empyema without concomitant injury or septic destruction. Patients had to stay away from work for 31.5 days, on average. Treatment was usually on an outpatient basis, and 85 per cent of the cases treated this way for articular empyema were restored to normal.