Research Mentor Name
Charles S. Day
Research Mentor Email Address
cday9@hfhs.org
Institution / Department
Department of Orthopaedics, Henry Ford Health
Document Type
Research Abstract
Research Type
clinicalresearch
Level of Research
no
Abstract
Introduction
Scapholunate interosseous ligament (SLIL) injuries result from falling on an outstretched hand. Studies have assessed the effectiveness of non-operative treatments, but none has compared different non-operative treatments. We analyze the effectiveness of casting and bracing/splinting based on patient reported outcomes (PRO).
Methods
Chart review was conducted on 1150 possible SLIL injury patients from 5 orthopaedic hand surgeons from a Midwestern, tertiary-care academic hospital system between 2021 and 2024. Two patient cohorts were divided based on treatment. PROs obtained were PROMIS Upper Extremity (UE) and Pain Interference (PI) pre-treatment and 2-3 months after. Patient improvement was calculated as difference between post- and pre-treatment PROMIS scores, with positive change in UE and negative change in PI indicating improvement. Statistical analysis was performed using paired t-tests comparing patient improvement between the two cohorts.
Results
17 bracing/splinting and 15 casting patients met our inclusion criteria. Bracing/splinting PROMIS UE pre- and post-treatment differences is a mean of 3.47 (SD = 6.84) while casting average difference is 7 (SD = 13.01). Bracing/splinting PROMIS PI pre- and post-treatment differences is a mean of -4.82 (SD = 6.98) while casting average difference is -3.53 (SD = 10.03). PROMIS UE and PI comparisons yielded no significant differences (p = 0.34, p = 0.67, respectively).
Conclusion
Preliminary PROMIS results yielded no significant differences in the two treatments methods, suggesting nonoperative casting and bracing/splinting are all equally effective. Further analysis with a larger population is needed to confirm these findings and whether similar trends can be found with long-term SLIL outcomes.
Disciplines
Medicine and Health Sciences | Orthopedics | Sports Medicine
Recommended Citation
Yi, Michelle; Zhang, Minie; Kopp, Lucas; and Day, Charles S., "Is There a Difference in Effectiveness Between Nonoperative Treatments for Modified Garcia-Elias Scapholunate Ligament Injuries Stages 1 and 2?" (2025). Medical Student Research Symposium. 376.
https://digitalcommons.wayne.edu/som_srs/376