Abstract
One hundred and sixty-two patients with a diagnosis of scapholunate instability underwent a modified Brunelli procedure over a 7 year period. One hundred and seventeen were assessed with the help of a questionnaire and, of these, 55 patients attended for clinical evaluation. The mean follow-up was 4 (1-8) years. There were 72 patients with dynamic scapholunate instability and 45 patients with static instability. The average age was 38 years. There were 50 males and 67 females. 77 (62%) patients had no to mild pain with a mean visual analogue score of 3.67 (SD=2.5)). The loss in the arc of flexion-extension was due to a reduced range of flexion (mean 31% loss), while 80% of extension was maintained, compared with the contralateral side. The grip strength on the operated side was reduced by 20% of the non-operated side. There was no statistically significant difference (p>0.05) in the range of movement or the grip strength between the static and dynamic group or the claims and non-claims group. Ninety (79%) patients were satisfied with the result of the surgery (good to excellent) and 88% of the patients felt that they would have the same surgery again. We feel that these results compare favourably with the early results published from this unit and recommend this procedure for dynamic and static scapholunate instability
