EARLY SALVAGE RECONSTRUCTION OF SEVERE DISTAL RADIUS FRACTURES

During an 8-year period from 1980 through 1988, 9 distal radius fractu res could not be restored because of bone loss or extensive comminutio n and were, therefore, salvaged by early arthrodesis in 7 patients and Swanson silicone wrist arthroplasty in 2, At a mean of 3.7 years, 4 p atients rated good, 2 satisfactory, and 3 poor according to a 100-poin t scoring system based on residual pain, motion, grip strength, and oc cupational recovery, Irreparable distal radial fractures with damage l argely confined to the skeleton achieved satisfactory or good results, Poor results occurred when there was severe soft tissue damage, espec ially neurovascular injury, despite a successful skeletal reconstructi on, When articular restoration could not be accomplished, early arthro desis or arthroplasty resulted in wrist alignment, stability, and pain control, and optimized the opportunity for digital and upper extremit y functional recovery.