History of Wrist Arthroscopy

Arthroscopy was established in Japan by Professor Kenji Takagi. In 1918, Prof. Takagi looked the cadaver knee using a bladder scope, then he tried in clinical cases of the knee tuberculotic arthritis in 1922. Wrist arthroscopy in clinical cases was done by Dr. Masaki Watanabe in 1970 using 1.9 mm diameter arthroscopy (No. 24). The first clinical wrist arthroscopy report in the literature was by Chen in 1979.[1] In the earlier 80s, wrist arthroscopy was introduced mainly for diagnosis, and then, arthroscopic “-ectomy” surgeries became much popular in the mid-80s to earlier 90s. Many technological innovations along with advances in anatomical understanding and surgical techniques have been achieved both in terms of radiocarpal and midcarpal joints. Although arthroscopy of the distal radioulnar joint had been considered technically difficult, it is now widely used not only for viewing the fovea lesion but also for repairing the radioulnar ligament to the fovea.[2] The technique of arthroscopic ligament reconstruction of the scapholunate, lunotriquetral, or radioulnar ligament was established. Arthroscopic reduction and fixation of the comminuted intraarticular fracture of the radius and arthroscopic bone grafting to the scaphoid nonunion are now performed worldwide.[3]

This issue includes a “Special Review” on “History of Wrist Arthroscopy” described by Drs. Bain, Whipple, Poehling, Mathoulin, Ho, and Baker. This review has described the thorough history of wrist arthroscopy, from its start point and related techniques of wrist arthroscopic procedures. In 1993, I attended a commercial wrist arthroscopy course in Orlando, Florida. I learned the technique of wrist arthroscopy from Dr. Whipple and the technique of elbow arthroscopy from Dr. Poehling. We had a chat at that time, and Dr. Poehling told me that he performed arthroscopy in Tokyo, when he stayed in a military hospital in the Yokota base. This review is not only the history of wrist arthroscopy itself, but also the history of the humans related to wrist arthroscopy. Interesting wrist papers, such as magnetic resonance arthrogram for wrist injuries, open and arthroscopic-assisted four-corner fusion, distal radius fracture, thumb carpometacarpal arthrosis, reversed perilunate dislocation, interesting case reports, procedure indicating volar distraction osteotomy for distal radius malunion, and meta-analysis of perilunate injury, are also included. Do not miss it.

Publication History

Article published online:
25 April 2022

• References

• 1 Chen YC. Arthroscopy of the wrist and finger joints. Orthop Clin North Am 1979; 10 (03) 723-733
• 2 Ecker J, Andrijich C. Dry arthroscopy distal radioulnar joint and foveal insertion: surgical technique. J Wrist Surg 2021; 11 (01) 2-5
• 3 Nakamura T, Ho PC, Atzei A, Corella F, Haugstvedt J-R. Revolutions in arthroscopic wrist surgeries. J Hand Surg Eur Vol 2022; 47 (01) 52-64