How long does a wrist fusion take to heal?

Healing can take up to 12 weeks, so you’ll want some help getting through your daily life. You may need to ask a family member or friend to assist with household tasks. After this type of surgery, you can expect to lose some of your range of motion and feel stiff in your joint.

How long does a partial wrist fusion last?

“Once healed, your wrist fusion should last forever and usually doesn’t require additional surgery besides possible hardware (plate) removal,” Dr. Dicke said. After six weeks, your cast is removed and replaced with a removable splint to wear another six to eight weeks.

Is SLAC wrist painful?

Patients will likely present with some degree of pain although not all SLAC wrists are symptomatic. Pain is common and may be aggravated by heavy use and is sometimes associated with a clunking sensation during movement. [13] There will usually be a decreased wrist ROM and weakness of the grip strength.

How do you treat a SLAC wrist?

Scaphoid excision and four-corner arthrodesis reliably diminished wrist pain in patients with stage III SLAC wrist while maintaining a 54 degrees flexion-extension arc. Stage II SLAC wrist can be successfully treated with this procedure, radioscaphoid arthrodesis, or proximal row carpectomy.

What does four corner fusion on the wrist mean?

Four-corner fusion is reported with 25820 Arthrodesis, wrist; limited, without bone graft (eg, intercarpal or radiocarpal) or 25825 Arthrodesis, wrist; with autograft (includes obtaining graft). Identify De Quervain’s Disease

What does stage III SLAC wrist PA show?

Stage III SLAC wrist PA radiograph shows sclerosis and joint space narrowing between the lunate and capitate, and the capitate will eventually migrate proximally into the space created by the scapholunate dissociation

When to use four corner fusion with Scaphoid excision?

Scaphoid excision with four-corner fusion is commonly used as a partial motion-preserving salvage procedure for treating wrists with symptomatic appropriately staged scapholunate advanced collapse (SLAC) or scaphoid nonunion advanced collapse (SNAC).

How is four corner fusion used to treat osteoarthritis?

“Four-corner fusion” may be used to correct SLAC, SNAC, and other forms of wrist osteoarthritis. This method removes the scaphoid, followed by internal fixation of the other seven carpal bones. The main advantage, versus conventional total wrist arthrodesis, is that some intercarpal and radiocarpal function is preserved.