[The diagnostic value of arthrography of the wrist in the evaluation of carpal ligament injuries: radio-surgical correlations. Apropos of 20 cases].
Intra-carpal ligament tears lead to radiocarpal arthritis early diagnosis allows early treatment. Standard and dynamic X rays are not always able to make the diagnosis. In these cases, arthrography of the wrist may give the diagnosis. To establish the specificity of this examination we tried to correlate surgical findings with arthrographic suspicions. Exact diagnosis was established in 12 out of 13 cases of suspected scapholunate ligament tears in 5 out of 6 cases of suspected luno-triquetral ligament tear suspicion and none of the 3 cases of suspected T.F.C.C. rupture suspicion. Wrist arthrography appears to have a good specificity for first row intra-carpal ligament tears. The indication arthrography must be discussed with wrist arthroscopy for the diagnosis of long term wrist pain after clinical examination and standard and dynamic X rays.