Radiographic evaluation of a novel horizontal dorsal intercarpal capsulodesis as a treatment of pre-arthritic scapholunate dissociation: a cadaver study.

Dorsal capsulodesis is an important part of the treatment of pre-arthritic scapholunate instability. We designed an experimental study using 14 fresh-frozen cadaver wrists to demonstrate the efficacy of a new horizontal dorsal intercarpal capsulodesis. We sectioned the scapholunate ligament to create a scapholunate dislocation. Several radiographic views, static and 'in stress', were recorded and we statistically compared the scapholunate interval before and after the section of the scapholunate ligament, and after the creation of the capsulodesis. The results showed a significant decrease of the scapholunate interval after the creation of the capsulodesis, especially in neutral and maximal ulnar deviation of the wrist. They also proved that our cadaveric model is reliable. This study demonstrated that this novel capsulodesis reduces the scapholunate interval in a cadaveric model.