I’ve been doing research on Kienbock’s disease because my sister has it. Is there one type of surgery that is better than another? The studies don’t seem to be very definite.

Keinbock’s disease prevents the blood flow to a small bone in the hand, the lunate, which then causes pain and reduced motion. Because doctors don’t understand yet what actually causes the disease, they don’t really have a tried and true treatment to present to their patients. Presently, treatment is aimed at reducing pain, improving function in the hand, and limiting the disease progression.

You can’t find any definitive studies that say one treatment is better than another because there is no such finding. A recent study, done in early 2010, looked at several types of surgeries for both early and late stage Kienbock’s disease. The researchers did not find any strong indication that one type of surgery was superior to another. All patients ended up pretty well with the same types of results.