Wrist Joint Replacement
In this procedure, the wrist joint is replaced with a metal joint – much like a small hip replacement. The advantage of this over a fusion is that you keep movement in the wrist. Government guidelines, from the National Institute for Clinical Excellence, are that wrist replacement’ should be undertaken only on carefully selected patients, by surgeons with special expertise in interventions for the hand and wrist… with special arrangements for clinical governance, consent and audit or research.’ With this in mind, if you do opt to have a wrist replacement, the expectation is that you will be contacted for long-term follow-up.
At the moment, we simply do not know how long a wrist replacement will last but more recent evidence does look promising, even in the higher demand patient, and it is projected that, with more modern wrist replacement designs, 86% of wrists will last at least 10 years.
The operation itself takes around an hour and a half to two hours and can be done under general anaesthesia – with you asleep; or under regional anaesthesia – with a numb arm. There will be a scar on the back of the hand, typically around 20cm. This can be quite a painful procedure, and most people need one or two nights in hospital.