History of Wrist Arthroscopy.

Abstract

Arthroscopy was established in Japan by Professor Kenji Takagi. In 1918, Prof. Takagi looked the cadaver knee using a bladder scope, then he tried in clinical cases of the knee tuberculotic arthritis in 1922. Wrist arthroscopy in clinical cases was done by Dr. Masaki Watanabe in 1970 using 1.9 mm diameter arthroscopy (No. 24). The first clinical wrist arthroscopy report in the literature was by Chen in 1979.[1] In the earlier 80s, wrist arthroscopy was introduced mainly for diagnosis, and then, arthroscopic “-ectomy” surgeries became much popular in the mid-80s to earlier 90s. Many technological innovations along with advances in anatomical understanding and surgical techniques have been achieved both in terms of radiocarpal and midcarpal joints. Although arthroscopy of the distal radioulnar joint had been considered technically difficult, it is now widely used not only for viewing the fovea lesion but also for repairing the radioulnar ligament to the fovea.[2] The technique of arthroscopic ligament reconstruction of the scapholunate, lunotriquetral, or radioulnar ligament was established. Arthroscopic reduction and fixation of the comminuted intraarticular fracture of the radius and arthroscopic bone grafting to the scaphoid nonunion are now performed worldwide.[3]