Patient-rating of long term results of silicone implant arthroplasty of the scaphoid

Thirty-two patients had silicone implant arthroplasty of the scaphoid in our unit between 1974-1988. Ten years later eight had had their implants removed because they had failed. Twenty-four of the 32 were reviewed at an intermediate clinical follow up examination between 1988-89 and 21 by patient rated wrist evaluation 10 years later. Grip strength compared to the non-injured hand varied between 38% and 136% (mean (SD) 78 (25)%). Nine of the 24 wrists showed no signs of bone cysts, while 15 had intraosseous cysts of various sizes. Patient-rated evaluation gave a median subjective long term overall wrist score of 25, a pain score of 27, and a function score of 22 on a scale from 0 (best) to 100 (worst). Nine out of 21 patients had little or no pain, and 13 out of 21 had total scores of under 25. Many of these patients reported good subjective benefit from silicone scaphoid arthroplasty.