Bilateral Kienböck Disease: Associations With Demographic, Systemic, and Radiologic Findings

Kienböck disease most frequently affects 1 wrist and rarely occurs bilaterally. The purpose of this study is to describe the natural history and identify risk factors for development of bilateral Kienböck disease.

After institutional review board approval, 350 patients with surgically managed Kienböck disease from 1976 to 2023 were identified. A retrospective review of the electronic medical record was used to collect demographic, clinical, and radiographic information. Two-tailed student t-test was used for continuous variable, and Fisher's exact test was used for categorical variables with analysis of power.

Ten of 350 patients (2.9%) had bilateral disease. The mean age was 45 (range: 14-62) years, and 6 out of 10 patients were female. The mean follow-up time was 47 (range: 9-274) months. Three of the 10 patients were laborers. Antecedent trauma (n = 2), prior corticosteroid injection (n = 1), and concomitant autoimmune disease (n = 1) were rare events. There was no difference in Lichtman Stage comparing the dominant and nondominant hands, and 72.2% of wrists were ulnar negative. This was higher but not significantly different than the unilateral affected comparison cohort (60%). Sufficient power was demonstrated (0.99). Eighteen of 20 wrists were treated operatively. Two cases required operative revision due to progression of disease.

The cause of bilateral versus unilateral Kienböck disease remains unclear. Bilateral disease was not associated with a higher incidence of autoimmune disease, systemic corticosteroid use, or exposure to heavy manual labor. However, thrombosis leading to avascular necrosis of the lunate may be influenced by hypercoagulable and inflammatory diseases. Surgeons should maintain a high index of suspicion for bilateral disease in patients with these comorbidities. Routine screening of the contralateral wrist is unjustified if the patient is asymptomatic.