Retrospective Study
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2021. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Clin Cases. Aug 26, 2021; 9(24): 7022-7031
Published online Aug 26, 2021. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v9.i24.7022
Influence of volar margin of the lunate fossa fragment fixation on distal radius fracture outcomes: A retrospective series
Hua Meng, Jia-Zhi Yan, Bing Wang, Zong-Bo Ma, Wei-Bo Kang, Bao-Ge Liu
Hua Meng, Jia-Zhi Yan, Bing Wang, Zong-Bo Ma, Wei-Bo Kang, Bao-Ge Liu, Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Beijing Tiantan Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing 100050, China
Author contributions: Meng H and Yan JZ designed and supervised the study, analyzed the data, made the revisions to the manuscript, and designed the experiments; Meng H, Yan JZ, Ma ZB, Kang WB, and Liu BG performed the experiments; Meng H and Ma ZB wrote the manuscript; all authors reviewed the results and approved the final version of the manuscript.
Supported by High Levels of Health Technical Personnel in Beijing City Health System, No. 2013-3-050.
Institutional review board statement: The study was approved by the institutional review board (IRB) of Beijing Tiantan Hospital, Capital Medical University (No. KY 2018-005-02).
Informed consent statement: The IRB waived the requirement for informed consent.
Conflict-of-interest statement: We have no financial relationships to disclose.
Data sharing statement: No additional data are available.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Jia-Zhi Yan, MD, Doctor, Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Beijing Tiantan Hospital, Capital Medical University, No. 119 South Fourth Ring West Road, Fengtai District, Beijing 100050, China. beijingtiantan@163.com
Received: March 11, 2021
Peer-review started: March 11, 2021
First decision: April 4, 2021
Revised: May 13, 2021
Accepted: July 5, 2021
Article in press: July 5, 2021
Published online: August 26, 2021
Processing time: 165 Days and 16.8 Hours
ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS
Research background

Distal radius fractures is common, while volar margin fractures of the lunate fossa (VMLF) is uncommon.

Research motivation

In clinical practice, distal radius fractures accompanied by VMLF lesions are often overlooked or inadequately reduced.

Research objectives

To investigate the effect of fixation of VMLF on the postoperative stability, function, and sagittal alignment of patients with distal fractures of the radius bone accompanied by VMLF lesions.

Research methods

In the retrospective study, patients with VMLF factures were included and grouped according to whether the VMLF fragments were fixed or not. All patients received operative treatment following the guideline of the German Society for Trauma for distal radius fractures. Affected wrists were evaluated using radiological parameters at preoperative and series postoperative follow-up time points among 6 mo. One year after the operation, the Mayo wrist score and the arm, shoulder, and hand (DASH) score were used to assess wrist disability.

Research results

A total of 35 patients were included. There were 38 wrists (17 on the left side, 15 on the right, and three bilateral; 16 in the fixed group, and 22 in the unfixed group). The incidence of postoperative wrist instability in the unfixed group (86.4%) was higher than that in the fixed group (25.0%) (P ≤ 0.001). Both Mayo wrist score and DASH score supported better outcome of wrist instability at 1 year in the fixed group than that of the unfixed group (P ≤ 0.001).

Research conclusions

In patients with distal radius fracture, effective reduction and fixation of the VMLF fragment is important to maintain the stability of the wrist joint and sagittal alignment.

Research perspectives

An associated injury of the short radiolunate ligament should be considered when treating distal radius fractures.