Although ulnar shortening osteotomy is the most frequently performed operation for ulnar impaction syndrome, little attention has been given to detect certain preoperative factors affecting clinical outcomes of this procedure. We asked whether preoperative factors influenced the postoperative score of ulnar shortening osteotomy combined with arthro-scopic débridement of the triangular fibrocartilage complex. We retrospectively reviewed 51 patients (53 wrists) with ulnar impaction syndrome treated with this procedure. There were 28 males and 23 females ranging in age from 14 to 67 years (mean, 37.5 years). The minimum followup was 12 months (mean, 26.3 months; range, 12-95 months). At last followup, we determined a modified Mayo wrist score for each patient. Preoperative factors affecting the clinical score were identified using multiple regression analysis. The clinical score ranged from 40 to 100 points (mean, 84.5 points). A long duration of symptoms and workers' compensation predicted worse clinical scores. We recommend considering these two factors when deciding whether to perform this procedure.
Level of Evidence: Level IV, therapeutic study. See the Guidelines for Authors for a complete description of levels of evidence.
From the *Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Hokkaido University School of Medicine, Sapporo, Japan; the †Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Shin-syu University School of Medicine, Matsumoto, Japan; and ‡Hokkaido Orthopaedic Memorial Hospital, Sapporo, Japan.
Received: December 5, 2006
Revised: April 27, 2007; August 20, 2007
Accepted: September 7, 2007
Each author certifies that he or she has no commercial associations (eg, consultancies, stock ownership, equity interest, patent/licensing arrangements, etc) that might pose a conflict of interest in connection with the submitted article.
Each author certifies that his or her institution has approved or waived approval for the human protocol for this investigation and that all investigations were conducted in conformity with ethical principles of research. Correspondence to: Norimasa Iwasaki, MD, PhD, Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Hokkaido University School of Medicine, Kita-15, Nishi-7, Kita-Ku, Sapporo 060-8638, Japan. Phone: 81-11-716-1161, ext 5937; Fax: 81-11-706-6054; E-mail: niwasaki@med.hokudai.ac.jp.
