Abstract
The natural history of scapholunate ligament injury is unknown. In fact, as far as we can tell, there has been no study examining the long-term natural history of this condition. It has, however, been assumed that the long-term progression of this injury leads to secondary osteoarthritis – scapholunate advanced collapse (the so-called SLAC wrist). In this study, we evaluated the clinical condition of 11 patients with proven scapholunate ligament injuries that had declined further treatment in an attempt to quantify any long-term disability. Whilst there was on-going pain and functional limitation in the injured wrist, there was no rapid progression of the osteoarthritis or SLAC wrist deformity.
The abstracts were prepared by Professor A. J. Thurston. Correspondence should be addressed to him at the Department of Surgery, Wellington School of Medicine, PO Box 7343, Wellington South, New Zealand
