Radial Inclination and Palmar Tilt as Risk Factors for Kienböck's Disease

Radial inclination angle (RIA) and palmar tilt (PT) of distal articular surface of radius, are anatomical factors that influence force transmission across the wrist and load transfer to the lunate. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the relationship between these parameters and Kienböck’s disease.

We measured and compared RIA and PT in standard posteroanterior and lateral wrist x-rays of 55 patients with Kienböck’s disease and 60 controls.

The mean RIA was 25.5° in Kienböck’s disease patients and 23.3° in the control group (P = .002). The mean PT was 11.5° and 9.4° for patients and controls, respectively (P = .005). All of these differences were statistically significant.

We concluded that there is an etiological association between higher degrees of RIA and PT with Kienböck’s disease.