Mj. Wheatley et Sj. Finical, A 32-YEAR FOLLOW-UP OF LUNATE EXCISION FOR KIENBOCKS-DISEASE - A CASE-REPORT AND A REVIEW OF RESULTS FROM EXCISION AND OTHER TREATMENT METHODS, Annals of plastic surgery, 37(3), 1996, pp. 322-325
Lunate excision alone is seldom utilized in the management of Kienbock
's disease due to concerns about progressive carpal collapse following
removal of this central carpal bone. We report a 32-year follow-up of
a patient who underwent lunate excision only for treatment of Kienboc
k's disease with a successful outcome. Although lunate excision is tho
ught to be associated with a high failure rate, a review of the litera
ture suggests that success rates following lunate excision are compara
ble to those reported for other more conventional techniques such as r
adial shortening, ulnar lengthening, limited carpal fusions, and proxi
mal row carpectomy. The current perception that lunate excision is ass
ociated with a high failure rate is not supported in the literature. A
s such, it may not be appropriate to assign this operation to the cate
gory of ''historical interest only.''