A comparison of the use of distal radius vascularised bone graft and non-vascularised iliac crest bone graft in the treatment of non-union of scaphoid fractures.

We compared two surgical techniques for the treatment of scaphoid non-union, namely, using distal radius vascularised bone graft and iliac crest non-vascularised bone graft. Eighty patients with symptomatic scaphoid non-union underwent surgical treatment, including 35 patients treated with distal radius vascularised bone graft and 45 treated by iliac crest non-vascularised bone graft. Patients were assessed objectively by examination of wrist range of motion, grip strength and radiographic findings in the postoperative period after a mean time of 2.8 (1.4) (range 1-5.2) years. Similar functional results were obtained with the two techniques. All cases of non-union in the non-vascularised group obtained consolidation in a mean time of 8.89 (2.26) months and in the vascularised group in a mean time of 7.97 (3.06) months. Three cases of consolidation failure occurred in the vascularised group and were related to technical difficulties.