Dorsal scapholunate ligament injury: a classification of clinical forms

Abstract

The dorsal scapholunate (SL) ligament may disrupt in variety of ways. Each form of injury requires specific fixation. To investigate the incidence of each type of ligament failure, the records of 45 patients with adequate information, good quality pictures, or videos demonstrating injury characteristics were reviewed. Four types of SL injury were found: type 1 (lateral avulsion from the scaphoid) was the most frequent, present in 19 patients (42%); type 2 (medial avulsion from the lunate) was the least frequent, with 7 cases (16%); type 3 (mid-substance rupture) was found on 9 occasions (20%); and type 4 (partial rupture plus elongation) was observed on 10 occasions (22%). Based on our observations, we submit that an arthroscopically assisted SL capsuloplasty may not be possible in all cases, particularly not when the ligament has avulsed off the bone (60% of the cases), leaving no ligament remnant on one side. Most patients will require ligament reattachment techniques using transosseous sutures, bone anchors, or ligament reconstruction.