Ultrasound-guided injection of the pisotriquetral joint: technique and case series.

Overview

PURPOSE: To describe our techniques for ultrasound-guided injection of the pisotriquetral joint (PTJ), and to report our experience in a case series. METHODS: Between 7/1/14 and 11/30/20, we performed 42 injections in 33 patients with ulnar-sided wrist pain, referred by clinicians who suspected the PTJ as the pain generator. There were 16 males and 17 females, average age 46.7 years. The patients were positioned in one of five ways: sitting with the hand maximally supinated; sitting with the hand maximally pronated; supine with the elbow flexed across the chest and the ulnar aspect of the wrist facing upward; supine with the elbow flexed, the arm externally rotated, and the ulnar aspect of the wrist facing upward; prone with the symptomatic hand at their side and the ulnar aspect of the wrist facing upward. RESULTS: The procedures were performed by any of twelve fellowship-trained musculoskeletal radiologists. Fifteen patients reported immediate relief of symptoms, including 6 patients whose pisotriquetral joints were normal sonographically. Four patients underwent subsequent surgical excision of their pisiforms and the fifth underwent arthroscopic debridement of the pisotriquetral joint. CONCLUSION: Ultrasound is a facile imaging modality for guiding pisotriquetral injections, which may be accomplished with a variety of patient positions and injection techniques.