ANOMALOUS FUSION OF THE SCAPHOID AND THE GREATER MULTANGULAR BONE

Abstract

Congenital fusion of carpal or tarsal bones is a rare anomaly. It may occur independently but usually is associated with synostosis of some of the interphalangeal joints. There are amazingly few English and American papers on the subject. Foreign writers offer varied arguments for their individual theories regarding the cause of this anomaly. I believe that one should accept only the scientific anatomic facts which tend to bear out the theory of arrested or defective development. These anatomic facts show that ossification centers appear in different years for each of the carpal bones except the greater multangular and the scaphoid bone, both of which show ossification centers in the sixth year of life. Because of this embryonic similarity, it seems logical that fusion of bones in the wrist would most probably involve those whose bony growth occurred at identical periods of development. Rochlin 1 in 1928 reported symmetric fusion of