Wrist cineradiography: a protocol for diagnosing carpal instability

Carpal instability is often related to ruptured or lax carpal ligaments. Wrist cineradiography has been shown to be a good modality for diagnosing carpal instability. To create uniformity in obtaining and assessing wrist cineradiography, a wrist cineradiography protocol is desirable. This protocol will focus on wrist cineradiography for diagnosing carpal instabilities. It describes the pathologic motions of the carpus and correlates these with a clinical diagnosi

Long-Term Functional Results of a Wrist Exercise Program for Patients with Palmar Midcarpal Instability

Background  Patients with palmar midcarpal instability have symptoms of pain, combined with clinical signs of abnormal mobility on stressing the joint, an unpredictable blockade feeling, and a noticeable clunk, in the absence of an underlying trauma. No data are available on the effect of conservative treatment for these patients. Purpose  The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect and the long-term functional outcomes of a wrist exercise program in patients with palmar midcarpal instability. Patients and Methods  All patients diagnosed with palmar midcarpal instability between 2005 and 2011 were included. Patients completed the Patient-Rated Wrist and Hand Evaluation (PRWHE) and the Short Form-36 health (SF-36) questionnaires, scaled their perceived pain before and after treatment, and indicated the effect of the received treatment. Results  A total of 119 patients diagnosed with palmar midcarpal instability were included. The median follow-up time was 6 years (IQR 4.5-7.0). The median PRWHE score after hand therapy was 35.5 and the median mental component of the SF-36 score was 53.9 and the physical component was 45.2. The median perceived pain reduced from eight to four and the median therapeutic effect of the wrist exercise program was five. Conclusion  Although palmar midcarpal instability remains to be a chronic disease, the effectiveness of our wrist exercise program is promising with acceptable long-term functional results and a good quality of life. Level of Evidence  Level IV, retrospective cohort study

The diagnostic accuracy of wrist cineradiography in diagnosing scapholunate dissociation

Ruptures of the scapholunate ligament (SLL) may cause carpal instability, also known as scapholunate dissociation (SLD). SLD may lead to osteoarthritis of the radiocarpal and midcarpal joints. The aim of this retrospective study was to determine the diagnostic value of wrist cineradiography in detecting SLD. All cineradiographic studies made during a 24 year period were retrieved. All patients who underwent the confirmation method (arthroscopy and/or arthrotomy) and cineradiography were included. In total, 84 patients met the inclusion criteria. Sensitivity, specificity, likelihood ratio, positive predictive value, negative predictive value, and diagnostic accuracy for detecting SLD were calculated for radiography and cineradiography. Cineradiography had a sensitivity of 90%, a specificity of 97%, and a diagnostic accuracy of 0.93 in detecting SLD. Radiography had a sensitivity of 81%, a specificity of 80%, and a diagnostic accuracy of 0.81. Cineradiography has a high diagnostic value for diagnosing SLDs. A positive cineradiography markedly increases the post-test probability of SL

Scapholunate dissociation; diagnostics made easy

Scapholunate dissociation (SLD) is a form of carpal instability, caused by rupture of the scapholunate ligament (SLL) the secondary stabiliser of the scapholunate (SL) compartment. SLD can cause osteoarthritis of the wrist. Recently a study was published that shows cineradiography to be an excellent radiological imaging technique for diagnosing SLD at a tertiary centre for hand and wrist surgery [1]. As the quality of these results can be influenced by the expertise of the operator and observer of the cineradiographic studies, the aim of this study was to determine if these results were reproducible at a secondary centre for hand and wrist surgery with less expertise in wrist cineradiography. All cineradiographic studies carried out during a 10-year period were obtained. All patients who underwent the gold standard procedure (arthroscopy/arthrotomy) after cineradiography were included, a total of 50 patients. The diagnostic accuracy of detecting SLD by both cineradiography and conventional radiography was calculated. Cineradiography had a high diagnostic accuracy, while the accuracy for conventional radiography was average. When all wrists with an SL distance >= 3 mm were excluded (static SLD), diagnostic accuracy for conventional radiography dropped even lower, while accuracy for cineradiography remained high. These results are comparable with published accuracy rates and show that cineradiography has a high diagnostic value for detecting SLD and do not seem to be influenced by the operator or observer of the cineradiographic studie

Do surgeons treat their patients like they would treat themselves?

Background There is substantial unexplained geographical and surgeon-to-surgeon variation in rates of surgery.Onewould expect surgeons to treat patients and themselves similarly based on best evidence and accounting for patient preferences. Questions/purposes (1) Are surgeons more likely to recommend surgery when choosing for a patient than for themselves? (2) Are surgeons less confident in deciding for patients than for themselves? Methods Two hundred fifty-four (32%) of 790 Science of Variation Group (SOVG) members reviewed 21 fictional upper extremity cases (eg, distal radius fracture, De Quervain tendinopathy) for which surgery is optional answering two questions: (1) What treatment would you choose/recommend: operative or nonoperative? (2) On a scale from 0 to 10, how confident are you about this decision? Confidence is the degree that one believes that his or her decision is the right one (ie, most appropriate). Participants were orthopaedic, trauma, and plastic surgeons, all with an interest in treating upper extremity conditions. Half of the participants were randomized to choose for themselves if they had this injury or illness. The other half was randomized to make treatment recommendations for a patient of their age and gender. For the choice of operative or nonoperative, the overall recommendation for treatment was expressed as a surgery score per surgeon by dividing the number of cases they would operate on by the total number of cases (n = 21), where 100% is when every surgeon recommended surgery for every case. For confidence, we calculated the mean confidence for all 21 cases per surgeon; overall score ranges from 0 to 10 with a higher score indicating more confidence in the decision for treatment. Results Surgeons were more likely to recommend surgery for a patient (44.2% ± 14.0%) than they were to choose surgery for themselves (38.5% ± 15.4%) with a mean difference of 6% (95% confidence interval [CI], 2.1%-9.4%; p = 0.002). Surgeons were more confident in deciding for themselves than they were for a patient of similar age and gender (self: 7.9 ± 1.0, patient: 7.5 ± 1.2, mean difference: 0.35 [CI, 0.075-0.62], p = 0.012). Conclusions Surgeons are slightly more likely to recommend surgery for a patient than they are to choose surgery for themselves and they choose for themselves with a little more confidence. Different perspectives, preferences, circumstantial information, and cognitive biases might explain the observed differences. This emphasizes the importance of (1) understanding patients' preferences and their considerations for treatment; (2) being aware that surgeons and patients might weigh various factors differently; (3) giving patients more autonomy by letting them balance risks and benefits themselves (ie, shared decisionmaking); and (4) assessing how dispassionate evidencebased decision aids help inform the patient and influences their decisional conflict