Between 1997 and 2006, radiographs of 66 scaphoid fractures were retrospectively reviewed to evaluate ulnar variance. Twenty-one (31.8%) patients had an ‘ulna neutral’ wrist, six (9.1%) had an ‘ulna plus’ and 39 (59.1%) had an ‘ulna minus’ wrist. The mean ulnar variance was −1.3 (SD 1.8) mm (range −5.5, 2.5). We observed a significant difference in the distribution of ulnar variance (P < 0.00001) and in the proportion of cases with ulna minus (OR = 5.0; 95% CI: 2.7, 9.3) compared to previous publications.
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