Abstract
Objective
Radiologic presentation of carpal instability at the radial side of the carpus, e.g. scapholunate diastasis following scapholunate interosseous ligament injury, has been studied extensively. By comparison, presentation at the ulnar-sided carpus has not. The purpose of this study was to assess the effects of lunate morphology, sex, and lunotriquetral interosseous ligament (LTIL) status on the radiologic measurement of the capitate-triquetrum joint (C-T distance). Further, we sought to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of C-T distance for assessing LTIL injuries.
Materials and methods
We retrospectively identified 223 wrists with wrist radiographs and MR arthrograms with contrast injection. Data collected included sex, lunate morphology and LTIL status from MR arthrography, and C-T distance from radiography. The effects of lunate morphology, sex, and LTIL injury status on C-T distance were evaluated using generalized linear models. Diagnostic performance of C-T distance was assessed by the area under receiver-operator characteristic curve (AUROC).
Results and conclusion
Lunate morphology, sex, and LTIL injury status all had significant effects on C-T distance; wrists with type II lunates, men, and wrists with LTIL injuries had greater C-T distances than wrists with type I lunates, women, and wrists without LTIL injuries, respectively (p < 0.01). The diagnostic value of the C-T distance for identifying patients with full-thickness LTIL tears was sufficient for women with type I (AUROC = 0.67) and type II lunates (0.60) and good for men with type I (0.72) and type II lunates (0.77). The demonstrated influence of LTIL status on C-T distance supports the use of C-T distance as a tool in assessing for full-thickness LTIL tears.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Schmitt R, Froehner S, Coblenz G, Christopoulos G. Carpal instability. Eur Radiol. 2006;16(10):2161–78.
Gelberman RH, Cooney WP, Szabo RM. Carpal instability. J Bone Joint Surg. 2000;82(4):578.
Horii E, Garcia-Elias M, An KN, Bishop AT, Cooney WP, Linscheid RL, et al. A kinematic study of luno-triquetral dissociations. J Hand Surg. 1991;16(2):355–62.
Taleisnik J, et al. J Bone Joint Surg. 1988;70(8):1262.
Ritt MJPF, Linscheid RL, Cooney WP, Berger RA, An K-N. The lunotriquetral joint: kinematic effects of sequential ligament sectioning, ligament repair, and arthrodesis. J Hand Surg. 1998;23(3):432–45.
Butterfield WL, Joshi AB, Lichtman D. Lunotriquetral injuries. J Am Soc Surg Hand. 2002;2(4):195–203.
Shin AY, Weinstein LP, Berger RA, Bishop AT. Treatment of isolated injuries of the lunotriquetral ligament. J Bone Joint Surg Br Vol. 2001;83-B(7):1023.
Sachar K. Ulnar-sided wrist pain: evaluation and treatment of triangular fibrocartilage complex tears, ulnocarpal impaction syndrome, and lunotriquetral ligament tears. J Hand Surg. 2008;33(9):1669–79.
Viegas SF, Wagner K, Patterson R, Peterson P. Medial (hamate) facet of the lunate. J Hand Surg. 1990;15(4):564–71.
Nakamura K, Beppu M, Patterson RM, Hanson CA, Hume PJ, Viegas SF. Motion analysis in two dimensions of radial-ulnar deviation of type I versus type II lunates. J Hand Surg. 2000;25(5):877–88.
Sagerman SD, Hauck RM, Palmer AK. Lunate morphology: Can it be predicted with routine x-ray films? J Hand Surg. 1995;20(1):38–41.
Galley I, Bain GI, McLean JM. Influence of lunate type on scaphoid kinematics. J Hand Surg. 2007;32(6):842–7.
Nakamura K, Beppu M, Matsushita K, Arai T, Ide T. Biomechanical analysis of the stress force on Midcarpal joint in Kienböck’s disease. Hand Surg. 1997;02(02):101–15.
Kivell TL, Guimont I, Wall CE. Sex-related shape dimorphism in the human radiocarpal and midcarpal joints. Anat Rec Adv Integr Anat Evol Biol. 2013;296(1):19–30.
Crisco JJ, Coburn JC, Moore DC, Upal MA. Carpal bone size and scaling in men versus in women. J Hand Surg. 2005;30(1):35–42.
Craigen MAC, Stanley JK. Wrist kinematics. J Hand Surg. 1995;20(2):165–70.
Garcia-Elias M, Ribe M, Rodriguez J, Cots M, Casas J. Influence of joint laxity on scaphoid kinematics. J Hand Surg Br Eur Vol. 1995;20(3):379–82.
McLean JM, Bain GI, Watts AC, Mooney LT, Turner PC, Moss M. Imaging recognition of morphological variants at the midcarpal joint. J Hand Surg. 2009;34(6):1044–55.
Lee RK, Griffith JF, Ng AW, Law EK, Tse W, Wong CW, et al. Intrinsic carpal ligaments on MR and multidetector CT arthrography: comparison of axial and axial oblique planes. Eur Radiol. 2016;27(3)1–9.
Sulkers GSI, Schep NWL, Maas M, van der Horst CMAM, Goslings JC, Strackee SD. The diagnostic accuracy of wrist cineradiography in diagnosing scapholunate dissociation. J Hand Surg (Eur Vol). 2013;39(3):263–71.
Pliefke J, Stengel D, Rademacher G, Mutze S, Ekkernkamp A, Eisenschenk A. Diagnostic accuracy of plain radiographs and cineradiography in diagnosing traumatic scapholunate dissociation. Skelet Radiol. 2008;37(2):139–45.
Schimmerl-Metz SM, Metz VM, Totterman SMS, Mann FA, Gilula LA. Radiologic measurement of the scapholunate joint: implications of biologic variation in scapholunate joint morphology. J Hand Surg. 1999;24(6):1237–44.
Ritt MJPF, Bishop AT, Berger RA, Linscheid RL, Berglund LJ, An K-N. Lunotriquetral ligament properties: a comparison of three anatomic subregions. J Hand Surg. 1998;23(3):425–31.
Nicoson MC, Moran SL. Diagnosis and treatment of acute lunotriquetral ligament injuries. Hand Clin. 2015;31(3):467–76.
Tsuge S, Nakamura R. Anatomical risk factors for Kienböck’s disease. J Hand Surg Br Eur Vol. 1993;18(1):70–5.
Acknowledgements
This study was funded by the National Institutes of Health grants 2 K12 HD051958 and R03 EB015099. The views expressed in this article are the authors’ own and do not necessarily represent the views of the National Institutes of Health or the United States Government. The authors thank Brent Foster and John Brock for help with materials for the manuscript.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Borgese, M., Boutin, R.D., Bayne, C.O. et al. Association of lunate morphology, sex, and lunotriquetral interosseous ligament injury with radiologic measurement of the capitate-triquetrum joint. Skeletal Radiol 46, 1729–1737 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00256-017-2747-x
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00256-017-2747-x