Special aspects of wrist arthritis management for SLAC and SNAC wrists using midcarpal arthrodesis: results of bilateral operations and conversion to total arthrodesis.

Although midcarpal wrist arthrodesis is recognized as a standard procedure to treat scapholuate advanced collapse (SLAC) and scaphoid nonunion advanced collapse (SNAC) of the wrist, little has been reported about patients with bilateral involvement and the number, cause, and results of failed cases requiring conversion to total wrist arthrodesis. This study investigated the results of 20 patients with bilateral procedures and of 22 patients who underwent total wrist fusion after failed midcarpal arthrodesis out of an overall group of 907 patients treated by this method during a 12-year period. Of these, 16 bilateral and 20 converted cases were reexamined after an average of 48 months and 42 months, respectively.