Wrist, Hand and Elbow Unit

Wrist arthroscopy has been performed for over 30 years and yet has suffered a much slower evolution than arthroscopy in other joints.  Dr. Marta Guillén’s team performs a large number of wrist arthroscopies every year, acquiring a level of experience and expertise in Spain considered second-to-none.

Wrist arthroscopy currently enables anatomically difficult areas to have better access, such as the scapholunate joint or the radioulnar joint, as well as the triangular fibrocartilage complex.  Once the area has been accessed, injury degree may be assessed and perform specific treatments without the damage caused by open surgeries.

Wrist arthroscopy indications

• Scapholunate dissociation and carpal instability
• Triangular fibrocartilage complex reinsertion
• Radiocarpal pathologies
• Carpal cartilage lesions
• Intra-articular ganglions
• Wrist synovectomy

Outcome studies perfomed by the Hand and Upper Limb unit at Clínica CEMTRO show high levels of satisfaction.

Inflammatory arthritis (Rheumatoid Arthritis) and trauma fractures of the wrist most commonly lead to wrist implants.  Joint destruction of the wrist usually causes a very impeding pain leading to great mobility and function loss. Wrist implants may modulate levels of pain and return mobility to the joint.

Functional rehabilitation of hand movements after accidents, wounds or correcting surgeries, must target re-establishing full hand mechanics, in other words, reconnecting or substituting all those small affected structures (tendons, ligaments and nerves) which enable the hand’s full range or movement.

Considering the reduced dimensions of all those structures, special surgery is needed (microsurgery) to ensure these structures remain unaffected once approached and anatomically repaired, specially when dealing with hands affected by accidents or rheumatism. Dr. Marta Guillén’s team are highly specialized in hand and wrist microsurgery.

Elbow arthroscopy enables surgeons to deal with tendinous insertions and fractures of the elbow in a less harmful way than traditional open surgery approaches.

The development of ever-smaller probes and improvements in surgical instruments have brought about recent important advances to this technique. Wrist arthroscopy currently allows surgeons to access anatomically difficult areas such as the scapholunate and radioulnar joints or the triangular fibrocartilage complex.  Once the area has been accessed, injury degree may be assessed and perform specific treatments without the damage caused by open surgeries.