BILATERAL 3-COMPARTMENT WRIST ARTHROGRAPHY IN PATIENTS WITH UNILATERAL WRIST PAIN - FINDINGS AND IMPLICATIONS FOR MANAGEMENT

Bilateral three-compartment wrist arthrography was performed in 30 pat ients with unilateral posttraumatic wrist pain to assess the incidence of bilateral findings. The mean age of patients was 30 (range 18-55) years. Thirty-three percent of patients were normal bilaterally, 30% h ad unilateral communication in the symptomatic wrist, 30% had communic ations in both the symptomatic and asymptomatic wrists and 7% had comm unication in the asymptomatic wrist only. Unilateral three-compartment wrist arthrography is not recommended in the assessment of unilateral post-traumatic wrist pain; no advantage of three-compartment injectio n over radiocarpal injection alone was shown.