The scapholunate ligament (SL) is one of the most clinically signicant ligaments of the wrist and unfortunately, its injuries often are not diagnosed or treated during the acute phase of injury, when direct repair of the ligament would be possible. It has three components – volar, dorsal, and interosseous. The dorsal and volar represent true ligaments, whereas the interosseous component is fibrocartilage.  All of the surgeons needs to know as much information as possible about the ligament anatomy and its relationships with other carpal structures, especially under dynamic conditions. In an interesting paper, Wrist MRI and Carpal Instability: What the Surgeon Needs to Know, and the Case for Dynamic Imaging the author closes the abstract with these words: “Providing specifics about the clinical questions that arise with various carpal instabilities serves to highlight the challenges facing current imaging technology, and provides a framework that supports the argument for the development of dynamic MRI as one-and perhaps the only-truly satisfactory solution to this problem“. I agree with him, definitely. In my daily practice I always perform both dynamic Mri and ultrasound examination; I find very attractive the study of carpal stability with dynamic Mri and ultrasound imaging. First knowing the normal appearance of carpal behaviour, then carpal instability.

Dynamic Mri of dorsal scapholunate ligament: radial and ulnar deviation.

See the video below and enjoy your practice!