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Chuck and Chris Talk SLAC Wrist

Chuck and Chris Talk SLAC Wrist

Released Sunday, 1st August 2021
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Chuck and Chris Talk SLAC Wrist

Chuck and Chris Talk SLAC Wrist

Chuck and Chris Talk SLAC Wrist

Chuck and Chris Talk SLAC Wrist

Sunday, 1st August 2021
Good episode? Give it some love!
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Episode Transcript

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0:10

Welcome to The

0:10

Upper Hand where Chuck and Chris

0:13

talk hand surgery.

0:14

We are two hand surgeons at Washington University in St. Louis here to

0:16

talk about all aspects of hand

0:19

surgery from technical to personal.

0:22

Thank you for

0:22

subscribing. Wherever you get

0:24

your podcasts.

0:25

And be sure to leave a

0:25

review that helps us get the

0:27

word out.

0:28

Oh, hey, Chris.

0:29

Hey, Chuck, how are you?

0:30

It's been a

0:30

pretty good day. How you been?

0:33

Doing well. I'm

0:33

excited about the new segment

0:36

we've got planned. I love the

0:36

fact that you have no idea

0:38

what's coming your way.

0:39

I'm a little

0:39

frightened. You scare me a

0:41

little bit with I'm giving up

0:41

control here. I don't know if

0:44

I'm comfortable with that.

0:45

Yeah, I know. And this

0:45

is why it's even better. Before

0:48

we before we jump in, do you

0:48

have any interesting reader or

0:51

excuse me listener feedback to

0:51

share with us?

0:54

I do see, you

0:54

know, I was at a fellowship

0:56

reunion a few weeks back, and it

0:56

was fantastic. And I was asked

0:59

to speak on social media. So I

0:59

shared some thoughts on Twitter

1:03

and Instagram. And I shared some

1:03

thoughts on the podcast. And it

1:07

was interesting that some people

1:07

had heard of the podcast some

1:09

people hadn't. A few of the

1:09

people who had not heard the

1:12

podcast since have logged on and

1:12

listened in. So this is from one

1:16

of my former co fellows. This is

1:16

from Mike Dedonna, who was a

1:21

year behind me. And he gave me

1:21

permission to share his review.

1:26

Chuck, it was so great to see

1:26

you in Jackson Hole I've just

1:29

completed a deep dive binge

1:29

listen to the podcast. And

1:32

here's the feedback I promised.

1:32

The podcast is in all caps.

1:37

Absolutely outstanding. You and

1:37

Chris are fantastic. I love

1:41

this. The two of you are

1:41

unbelievably engaging,

1:44

entertaining, authentic, honest,

1:44

funny, and of course, extremely

1:47

knowledgeable. I love the

1:47

breadth of topics as well as the

1:50

depth and clarity you provide on

1:50

everything from patient

1:53

presentation and indications to

1:53

surgical techniques with great

1:55

detail and specifics down to the

1:55

number of sutures you use to

1:59

close the carpal tunnel and love

1:59

the kiefhaber box, which is what

2:04

we call the retractor placement

2:04

for the carpal tunnel, as well

2:08

as discussion of complications

2:08

therapy and everything in

2:10

between. I've gotten my whole

2:10

team to listen, with one caveat.

2:14

They can't move to St. Louis, to

2:14

join you guys. You're that good.

2:17

Congrats to you. And Chris,

2:17

thank you very much. And so Wow,

2:21

Mike, that is really, really

2:21

nice. We appreciate the kind

2:24

words.

2:25

That's, that's awesome. And you have now managed to mention that you did

2:27

the Stern fellowship at least

2:31

four times in the last four

2:31

episodes. That is fantastic,

2:35

great fellowship. We're very

2:35

thankful to Dr. Stern for

2:38

training. An incredible number

2:38

of amazing hand surgeons. Well

2:42

included.

2:44

It's interesting it I'm trying to feel young by harking, you know,

2:45

back to those days, but it is

2:49

amazing. You know, when you

2:49

think about your legacy, what

2:53

does that look like? Is it the

2:53

patients you treated? Is it the

2:56

articles you wrote? Or is it the

2:56

people you touched and educated?

3:01

And I think the older I get, the

3:01

more realize I realize how

3:05

impactful that process is.

3:05

Looking in that room with all of

3:10

those former fellows, it was

3:10

really meaningful.

3:13

Well, that's, that's great. And you know, perhaps we should get Dr. Stern on at some

3:15

point just to talk about that

3:18

topic.

3:19

I would love

3:19

that. And he would love that I

3:22

feel confident you would know

3:22

better than I given your close

3:25

podcasting relationship with him.

3:27

Yeah, he's he's part

3:27

of the side gig, the side gig's

3:30

actually resuming again in

3:30

October. So First Hand is coming

3:33

back in October. We hope it's

3:33

been long enough that you've

3:35

missed us. And we're excited

3:35

about that.

3:38

You've been

3:38

renewed congratulations.

3:40

It was it was a

3:40

competitive process. So So here

3:45

is our new segment. It's called

3:45

we'll have hand surgery. So it

3:48

speaking of engaging our

3:48

listener community the topics

3:51

for this we'll have hand surgery

3:51

have been submitted by the

3:54

current medical student on my

3:54

rotation Ruba Socrab, who's

3:57

going to be doing her away

3:57

rotation at the University of

4:00

Michigan shortly so anybody up

4:00

in Ann Arbor look out for her.

4:02

She's fantastic. Noel Palumbo

4:02

current pgy three resident in

4:08

orthopedics here at Wash U and

4:08

Lauren Wessel current outgoing

4:14

hand fellow here at Wash U so

4:14

Chuck, six topics on the wheel

4:18

of hand surgery, very high tech,

4:18

six posts in a circle. Okay, so

4:22

what I'm going to do is I'm

4:22

going to spin a pin and whatever

4:25

side whatever topic we fall on,

4:25

we're going to talk about for 15

4:28

minutes.

4:29

Perfect. I

4:29

love that. While you're about to

4:31

do that, I do want to say that I

4:31

looked at our reviews online and

4:35

we don't we don't this is

4:35

totally totally side gab I'm not

4:38

just demeaning your wheel of

4:38

hand surgery, but I do. I do

4:43

want to say that I was reviewing

4:43

the the questionnaire we asked

4:49

listeners to fill out if you

4:49

haven't done that, please do it.

4:52

And they they were very clear

4:52

that they liked the nerve talk.

4:55

They want more sports, they want

4:55

more technical, so we're going

4:58

to do that but I also wanted

4:58

emphasise that the mugs are

5:01

coveted and there are people

5:01

that really want our mugs. So

5:04

we're going to send a mug to

5:04

people who send in questions

5:08

that we answer on air. And I'm

5:08

going to send Mike a mug for his

5:11

generous review. So sorry,

5:11

Chris, I had to get that out.

5:15

You know, I'm old. I forget

5:15

things. I have to say it when it

5:17

comes to mind.

5:18

And I did want to say,

5:18

Shohbit you're not getting a mug

5:21

until your papers published.

5:21

There's that current fellow

5:26

class is dying to get mugs. And

5:26

you know, Jeff Stepan you're

5:29

finally getting your mug and we

5:29

can't wait to have you back. So

5:32

um, and oh, Micah Sinclair, we

5:32

should get you a mug too.

5:37

Anyway, so on the wheel of hand

5:37

surgery.

5:39

Chris is being generous today.

5:41

Micah listens every

5:41

week, and we co chair the

5:44

Government Affairs Committee for

5:44

the for the hand society. She

5:47

does great work. So I think

5:47

she's earned what she has to

5:50

work with me on a committee. So

5:52

Amen. Thank you Micah.

5:54

The inclusion criteria

5:54

are expanding. So let's see here

5:58

favorite instruments

5:58

slash preference cards,

6:02

preparing for new or unfamiliar

6:02

cases. Didn't see that coming.

6:07

And I'll elaborate more as that

6:07

comes up. SLAC wrist. Never have

6:11

I ever, and networking. So I'm

6:11

going to spin this and I just

6:17

want to know before I spin it,

6:17

which topic Do you least want?

6:23

I think

6:23

they're all fine. I'm willing to

6:25

tackle any of them.

6:26

Alright, here we go.

6:26

Spinning. SLAC wrist, of course,

6:32

the only clinical topic, but we

6:32

can get into some technical

6:35

stuff. So on this wheel of hand

6:35

surgery, slack wrist is being

6:39

removed, and shall be replaced

6:39

by a new topic. It will be

6:43

sports, I promise for next time.

6:46

Perfect. Well,

6:46

this is great. Because those of

6:48

you who can't really envision

6:48

what this beautiful wheel looks

6:51

like, just join us on YouTube,

6:51

you can actually see it on our

6:55

zoom podcast.

6:56

We've been slacking on

6:56

the social meaning I have been

6:59

slacking on the social, I will

6:59

post a picture of this amazing

7:03

we'll have posted. But so this

7:03

is what happens when you don't

7:07

get your sports surgery on and,

7:07

you end up with a slack wrist.

7:10

So, Chuck, so let's talk about

7:10

SLAC wrist. So how often does

7:16

this actually come up? And

7:16

what's the classic story? For a

7:20

presentation of a patient with a SLAC wrist?

7:23

I guess I

7:23

would, I would say it's a bi

7:25

modal age distribution. And I

7:25

use that term just because I

7:28

wanted to work that into a

7:28

sentence. There's there's the

7:32

youngest-

7:33

There's the Chris

7:33

injury and the Chuck injury.

7:39

Fair enough,

7:39

although I might spread us apart

7:41

a little further.

7:42

I will probably Yeah. Okay.

7:44

So maybe

7:44

there's someone my age who fell

7:47

a year and a half ago, had some

7:47

wrist pain and went away. And

7:50

now that wrist pain has come

7:50

back with a vengeance. And then

7:52

there's the patient who's 65 or

7:52

70, who comes in with wrist

7:58

pain. And to me, it's super

7:58

interesting, because you don't

8:02

need an X ray on that 65 year

8:02

old. You can look at that wrist

8:07

and know what the diagnosis is.

8:07

But I think for me, there really

8:10

are two populations.

8:12

So I think I know what

8:12

you're talking about in terms of

8:14

what that wrist looks like. And

8:14

it's always that wrist that's

8:17

just like a little swollen in

8:17

the right spot. And it hurts,

8:20

obviously, I mean, looking just

8:20

looking at it, you can tell but

8:23

you know where it's gonna hurt.

8:23

You know, how do you do you ask

8:27

them if they had any trauma in

8:27

the past? Do you? Do you buy the

8:30

story? Do you? I mean, do you

8:30

believe them? Because most

8:32

people don't know?

8:34

Yeah. So again, just just to make sure we are crystal clear. We don't want

8:36

to be obtuse, but dorsal radial

8:40

swelling at the radioscaphoid

8:40

joint and point tenderness there

8:44

is the tip off. But again, you

8:44

can see it just by looking at

8:47

the wrist. I always ask, I don't

8:47

know if it matters, I guess it's

8:53

just part of the discussion. But

8:53

I always ask, do you?

8:57

I do just to see what

8:57

happens. I don't believe them. I

9:01

actually, you know, this patient

9:01

came in to see me recently one

9:05

of my recent clinics. And you

9:05

know, I immediately knew what

9:09

was going on and was very

9:09

curious to see what the X ray

9:11

was going to look like. And lo

9:11

and behold, it was a, you know,

9:15

already a SLAC wrist. So for the

9:15

listeners who are earlier on in

9:19

training, let's talk through the

9:19

progression of a SLAC wrist. So

9:24

you have an injury to the SL

9:24

ligament which leads to some

9:26

element of instability. And

9:26

eventually because that link

9:30

between the scaphoid and lunate

9:30

is no longer intact. The

9:33

scaphoid will flex. So what

9:33

happens there, Chuck in terms of

9:38

you know, the contact pressure

9:38

is yada yada yada?

9:41

Yeah, I think

9:41

we could go deep we could go

9:43

deep dive into the biomechanics

9:43

of how the carpus works, but I

9:49

think you said it really well.

9:49

Without that scapholunate

9:51

ligament the scaphoid is going

9:51

to flex. When the scahpoid

9:55

flexes the pressure between

9:55

initially this styloid of the

10:01

distal radius and the scaphoid

10:01

waist, and subsequently, the

10:05

proximal, more proximal distal

10:05

radius and the more proximal

10:08

scaphoid, the contact forces

10:08

increase. And because that's not

10:12

the regular load bearing

10:12

pattern, and you get arthritis

10:16

there.

10:17

So maybe just for

10:17

completeness sake, when we

10:20

replace this on the wheel, we'll

10:20

put scapholunate ligament

10:23

treatment and go a little more

10:23

into that. But let's say that

10:25

ship has sailed. It's an

10:25

irreparable ligament and you've

10:28

already developed arthritic

10:28

changes. How do you what do you

10:32

tell that patient? You know, I

10:32

tend to kind of give them you

10:34

know, hey, this process has

10:34

already started. We can't cure

10:37

it, we can treat it but we can't

10:37

cure it. I typically will start

10:41

them with a brace and a steroid

10:41

shot and a steroid shot if their

10:44

pain is real bad at that point.

10:44

Do you offer anything different

10:47

than that right away?

10:48

No, I think

10:48

that's exactly right. Because

10:51

you can make a patient

10:51

dramatically better I, I will

10:54

say, I'm not one to give steroid

10:54

injection after steroid

10:58

injection after steroid

10:58

injection, because I do believe

11:01

there are negative consequences

11:01

when you are potentially

11:04

salvaging some of the

11:04

articulations of the wrist. And

11:07

so I think a single injection

11:07

with the offer of a split works

11:10

great, and give the patient a

11:10

chance to see if they like it if

11:13

they can work with the splint,

11:13

and it solves their problem,

11:16

either temporarily, or more long

11:16

term. And if they fail that,

11:21

then we have options. We have

11:21

good surgical options.

11:24

So but what do you you

11:24

know, if you're putting in

11:27

steroids, and you say you're

11:27

doing some surgery down the line

11:31

that preserves some elements of

11:31

wrist motion? What are you

11:35

trying to save? Really? Because

11:35

I mean, if you're assuming your

11:38

steroids in the right place,

11:38

you're not really affecting the

11:40

mid carpal joint. You know, so

11:40

are you saying it's, it's the

11:44

impact on the radius cartilage

11:44

itself?

11:47

Yeah, I think they're, I mean, again, I don't know the science like some

11:49

listeners probably do. And some

11:52

scientists probably do. But I

11:52

think it's pretty clear that

11:55

repetitive steroid injections

11:55

have a negative impact on the

11:59

cartilage. And so the

11:59

radiolunate joint, if you're

12:01

going to consider, you know,

12:01

scaphoid excision and four bone

12:04

fusion, or we know that this

12:04

gave when the ligaments intact

12:07

and so the the steroids will

12:07

migrate to the mid carpal joint

12:10

as well.

12:11

So what's what's your

12:11

current thought process on

12:15

procedures other than a four

12:15

corner or? Or PRC? Do you see

12:20

any role for like radial

12:20

styloidectomy at all? Like, how

12:23

does that or even arthroscopy

12:23

some might argue?

12:26

Yeah, I mean,

12:26

I guess it depends a little bit

12:28

on the severity of the

12:28

arthrosis. I mean, if you catch

12:30

something really early, a scope

12:30

in my mind has a role for

12:34

confirming the diagnosis maybe.

12:34

And I don't really believe in

12:38

the whole cleanup procedure in

12:38

this situation, although some

12:40

might advocate for that as

12:40

buying time. I don't do a lot of

12:45

radial styloidectomies, you

12:45

know, those can be done

12:47

arthroscopically or open. I

12:47

think they're pretty

12:50

straightforward. There was a ton

12:50

of research done in years past,

12:53

especially after government

12:53

quantifying what type of

12:57

osteotomy made sense what angle

12:57

the osteotomy was to protect the

13:01

ligaments? I just don't do many

13:01

in 2021. Do you?

13:05

I don't thank you for

13:05

triggering me. Just the insert

13:12

the origin of the radius gave a

13:12

cavity ligament so okay. Well, I

13:17

guess in the short time that we

13:17

have left in terms of the

13:20

technical aspects, you know, how

13:20

do you decide between whether

13:24

you're going to offer a PRC or

13:24

four corner fusion?

13:27

Thank I do it. Well, first of all, the literature has become more

13:28

clear, right? the PRC is better,

13:32

it's less revised, it's less

13:32

expensive, patients are equally

13:36

happy. And most of us like the

13:36

PRC, I probably do more four

13:42

bone fusions than I do PRCs.

13:42

Having Having said that, of

13:46

course, you know, everyone's

13:46

like, what the heck is he

13:49

talking about? I think they're

13:49

both good options. I really do.

13:53

So an interesting

13:53

thing, I saw a patient as a

13:56

second opinion very recently,

13:56

who had a very straightforward

14:00

issue, and was recommended to

14:00

have a PRC by somebody else, and

14:05

came in and was like, That just

14:05

sounds ridiculous. So how do you

14:09

explain this procedure to the

14:09

patient of we're going to treat

14:12

your arthritis by removing an

14:12

entire row of bones. I mean,

14:15

clearly, we have to have that

14:15

conversation for thumb CMC

14:18

surgery, but just seems weird.

14:21

It's a hard

14:21

sell. So my hearing my

14:23

conversation goes like this. If

14:23

I'm selling a PRC, so you have

14:28

this significant arthritis, we

14:28

have to get rid of this

14:31

arthritic bone. And thankfully,

14:31

we can use other bones to

14:37

support your wrist. There's an

14:37

operation that's been around for

14:41

100 years, anything that's been

14:41

around this long has got to

14:45

work. And, and I draw a little

14:45

picture, a terrible picture, we

14:50

laugh at my art, and then I

14:50

explain what we're going to do

14:53

and I explained that I trust

14:53

this procedure and usually that

14:56

that convinces them. Are you

14:56

sold?

14:59

I love it. I'm

14:59

learning here. This is great. So

15:02

then how do you how do you sell

15:02

the four corner fusion?

15:05

I do tend to

15:05

use this stereotype if that's

15:08

the right word for four bone

15:08

fusions in that I think it does

15:12

maintain carporal height, I do

15:12

believe it probably has some

15:16

advantages from a strength

15:16

perspective, and it maintains

15:20

more normal anatomy. And so for

15:20

the patients that either a are

15:24

freaked out by the PRC, or B, or

15:24

a little younger and higher

15:28

demand, I think the four bone

15:28

fusion makes sense. And I do

15:33

still perform a four bone

15:33

fusion, you know, the concept of

15:35

just fusing the the capitolunate

15:35

joint has become a little more

15:40

in vogue lately. But I like the

15:40

four bone fusion and I still do

15:43

it.

15:44

So are you also taking

15:44

down, you know, the side to side

15:46

articulations? Are you just

15:46

doing like a two bicolumnar kind

15:49

of fusion?

15:50

Yeah, I like- That's a great question. I like that, I tend to really address

15:52

the two mid carpal joints, so

15:57

the capitolunate joint I

15:57

decorticate. And I fuse that

16:00

one. And I also fuse the joint

16:00

between the hamate and the

16:04

triquetrum. In a perfect world,

16:04

I have two screws, one going

16:09

from the lunate into the

16:09

capitate and a second going from

16:12

the triquetrum into the hamate

16:12

into the capitate. And I really

16:17

liked that. And I've been very

16:17

pleased with the results that I

16:19

get from that.

16:21

So we were on our

16:21

travel club meeting via zoom

16:24

recently of the the younger

16:24

generation of hand surgeons. And

16:28

we were discussing this very

16:28

topic and you know, I felt like

16:31

an outlier. Because there are

16:31

some of my colleagues are using

16:33

plates more and feeling more

16:33

confident in moving them earlier

16:38

on with the plates. And you

16:38

know, saying that, you know,

16:40

there are some reports of

16:40

construct failure with the type

16:43

of construct that you just

16:43

described that I use regularly

16:46

with early motion. So, you know,

16:46

if you could do four corner or

16:51

four bone bicolumnar kind of

16:51

fusion and move them early,

16:55

would they you think that would

16:55

make a difference in terms of

16:57

the evolving literature between

16:57

PRC and four bone fusion?

17:02

I fundamentally I don't believe that it's going to increase

17:04

motion dramatically in the long

17:06

term, it might make life a

17:06

little easier in the short term.

17:10

I guess the question is, would

17:10

you trust your plate and screws

17:15

in the lousy lunate bone? That's

17:15

that's ultimately to me the

17:18

riskiest issue, the lunate bone

17:18

is not healthy, it's small. And

17:22

we're trying to make sure it

17:22

fuses because that is the key to

17:25

the whole operation. So I

17:25

respect that people are doing

17:28

this, I don't feel a strong need

17:28

to investigate it, I guess, is

17:32

my response.

17:33

And then the other. The other thing, I think that it's challenging about these

17:35

sometimes if if it was getting

17:38

the lunate correction, and

17:38

getting the lunate correction,

17:41

but then also being able to get

17:41

your screw in the right position

17:44

in the lunate because

17:44

essentially, you've you've taken

17:47

down the mid carpal joint, your

17:47

capitolunate joint's taken down,

17:50

you're having to flex down,

17:50

essentially the wrist to get

17:53

that lunate in neutral posture.

17:53

But then also get your screw

17:58

kind of in the center of the

17:58

lunate, you know, volar to

18:01

dorsal. Do you have any tricks

18:01

for that because you know,

18:03

whatever, you know, I tried to

18:03

do that it's it's a little more

18:05

challenging just because you end

18:05

up flexing your wrist, but then

18:08

it made carpal joint opens up

18:08

and I try to keep it close. But

18:11

it's challenging sometimes.

18:13

Totally agree.

18:13

And it can be really

18:15

challenging. I would say a

18:15

couple of things, just to make

18:19

sure we're following up on the

18:19

biomechanics, without that

18:21

scaphoid to tether the lunate,

18:21

the lunate tends to go into DC.

18:26

So it dorsal flexes. And so our

18:26

goal with the surgery to create

18:31

the greatest arc of motion is to

18:31

get the new lunate neutral at

18:36

the fusion site with the

18:36

capitate. And so what I do is I

18:39

decorticate everything, I flex

18:39

the wrist, and sometimes I have

18:43

to release that volar lip of the

18:43

lunate, but I flex the wrist and

18:48

to get the capitate and the

18:48

lunate lined up, I place a six

18:51

two K wire securing the capitate

18:51

to the lunate and then I can put

18:56

the wrist wherever I want to put

18:56

my screw and I've been really

18:59

happy with that technique and

18:59

always start there and then go

19:02

to the other joint for fusion

19:02

later. So I like that I think

19:06

it's probably easier putting a

19:06

dorsal plate on in some respects

19:09

for that very reason. But I

19:09

hadn't been a huge impediment

19:13

for me with that technique.

19:15

And for your ulnar

19:15

sided screw separate incision

19:19

work through the same incision.

19:19

If you're in a separate

19:21

incision, how do you avoid, you

19:21

know, the dorsal cutaneous

19:25

branch of the ulnar nerve as as

19:25

as it's coming from volar to

19:27

dorsal?

19:28

Yeah, I'd be interested to hear what you do. I do make a separate incision

19:30

just distal to the ulnar

19:32

styloid I find the nerve or

19:32

nerve branches and free them and

19:37

then go right for that

19:37

triquetrum to place the K wire

19:40

and then the screw. What about

19:40

you?

19:43

I do the same. And

19:43

it's funny because I did that.

19:46

And that's how I remember

19:46

learning it from from Ryan

19:49

Calfee when I was this fellow.

19:49

And then I was teaching a fellow

19:52

to do I was like, Oh, this is

19:52

how Dr. Calfee does it too. And

19:55

they're like, Oh, no. Dr. Calfee

19:55

just does it through the dorsal

19:57

incision and I went for and I'm

19:57

like, What the hell And he's

20:00

like, oh, yeah I changed.

20:02

You can't just change.

20:04

I guess, you know, and he's like, it just made more sense to me. So that's good.

20:07

So let's say

20:07

you have do it. Well, I just put

20:12

it out. There's a question in a

20:12

classic SLAC wrist. Do you ever

20:16

consider a complete wrist

20:16

fusion? And do you ever consider

20:21

wrist arthroplasty?

20:24

I think I have a

20:24

higher threshold to consider

20:26

wrist arthroplasty. Just because

20:26

I am not as well versed in if I

20:29

have anybody that's interested

20:29

in it, you know, I have a

20:32

general sense of appropriate

20:32

indications and, you know,

20:34

expected outcomes I'll send them

20:34

to Marty. Since Marty Boyer, our

20:38

partner does that for our group.

20:38

Although I admittedly want to

20:41

learn more about it and then you

20:41

know, total wrist arthrodesis

20:45

I've done one for a SLAC wrist

20:45

because it the wrist honestly

20:49

looked really beat up on the X

20:49

rays and I had some concerns

20:52

about the lunate the radiolunate

20:52

joint. So I ended up offering

20:58

him a one and done surgery and

20:58

we did a wrist arthrodesis and

21:01

very happy.

21:03

I agree and

21:03

disagree. I agree that there are

21:07

certain patients that I think a

21:07

wrist arthroplasty makes sense

21:10

for. But for those patients, I

21:10

have no interest in learning how

21:14

to do a wrist arthroplasty and

21:14

I'm happy to send them to Dr.

21:17

Boyer. But it is an older lower

21:17

demand population. There is

21:21

another group that has very high

21:21

demand and very bad arthritis

21:27

and a formal wrist fusion a

21:27

complete wrist fusion makes

21:30

sense. And so I do think those

21:30

two operations come into play

21:33

although the vast majority of by

21:33

SLAC wrist patients are treated

21:36

successfully with either a PRC

21:36

or a four bone fusion.

21:40

Fantastic. Thanks for

21:40

playing Wheel of hand surgery. I

21:43

will replace SLAC wrist with

21:43

some other sportsy kind of topic

21:46

and we'll go from there.

21:48

Alright, so

21:48

listeners if you like the wheel,

21:50

let us know if you think it's

21:50

silly. Let us know. Have a good

21:53

one.

21:53

All right. You better like it.

21:57

Hey, Chris, that was fun. Let's do it again real soon.

22:00

Sounds good. Well, be

22:00

sure to check us out on Twitter

22:03

@Handpodcast. Hey, Chuck, what's your Twitter handle?

22:05

Mine is

22:05

@congenitalhand. What about you?

22:08

Mine is @ChrisDyMD

22:08

spelled d y. And if you'd like

22:11

to email us, you can reach us at

22:16

And remember,

22:16

please subscribe wherever you

22:18

get your podcasts.

22:19

And be sure to leave a

22:19

review that helps us get the

22:21

word out.

22:22

Special thanks

22:22

to Peter Martin for the amazing

22:24

music. And remember, keep the

22:24

upper hand. Come back next time.

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