Denervation of the wrist joint.

A collective review was made of the results of denervation of the wrist joint for painful restrictiorn of motion done in 313 patients and follow-up studies on 195 (average 4.1 years, ranging from 9 months to 14 years). Complete denervation was done in only 30, partial denervation in the others being done after testing with local anesthetic blocks. Sixty-nine of the patients retained a moble wrist without pain or with slight pain with heavy work. No evidence of Charcot-like joints was seen. Poorest results followed when the operation was done for sequelae of intra-articular fracture of the radius, fracture dislocations, unstable ligamentous support, joint surface destruction, or for those required to do heavy manual labor. Arthrodesis was done secondarily in nine patients.