Failure of a retinacular flap to prevent dorsal wrist pain after titanium Pi plate fixation of distal radius fractures

Patients with distal radius fractures that had been treated with a dorsal Pi plate and retinacular flap covering the transverse limb of the Pi plate were evaluated clinically and radiographically. Nine of 20 patients (45%) required plate removal for dorsal wrist pain. Three of the remaining 11 who retained the plate had dorsal tenderness over the wrist extensors. There were no differences evident between the 2 groups in plate size, position, or number of screws used. in addition there were no significant differences between the groups in either radial height or inclination. The palmar tilt did show a trend toward statistical significance: those patients who required plate removal had an average of 4.1degrees of dorsal tilt, patients whose plate was not removed averaged 2.8degrees of palmar tilt. Our results show that the retinacular flap covering the distal transverse limb of the Pi plate did not prevent the occurrence of dorsal wrist pain. Dorsal wrist pain remained a problem with dorsal plating of distal radius fractures. Copyright (C) 2002 by the American Society for Surgery of the Hand.