Arthroscopic treatment of scapholunate ligament tears in patients with chronic wrist pain

Background
Scapholunate ligament tear is one of the important causes of pain in patients with chronic wrist pain. The aim of the present study was to review the results of the arthroscopic management of patients with persistent wrist pain and scapholunate ligament injury as documented on arthroscopic examination after the failure of nonoperative management of at least 6 months.
Patients and methods
Thirteen patients were treated arthroscopically between 2006 and 2008 for chronic wrist pain and instability of the carpal bone because of partial scapholunate ligament tears. The scapholunate ligament injury was graded according to the Geissler system. The modified Mayo wrist score classification was recorded preoperatively and postoperatively for all patients.
Results
Four patients had Geissler type-I, seven patients had Geissler type-II, and two patients had Geissler type-III injury. The preoperative modified Mayo score was 56.3 (range, 35–90). The average early postoperative score, recorded at the time of routine follow-up at an average of 3 months after surgery, was 91.6 (range, 65–100) (<0.001) and improved to 93.8 at the late follow-up at 11 months. Two of the 13 patients had a score in the fair range.
Conclusion
The arthroscopic treatment of scapholunate tears in patients with chronic wrist pain is very likely to result in the resolution of patients’ pain.