AGE-CHANGES IN TRIANGULAR FIBRO-CARTILAGE OF WRIST JOINT

  • 1 January 1978
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 126  (JUN) , 367-384
Abstract
The triangular fibrocartilage of 180 wrist joints from 100 fresh cadavers of individuals ranging in age from fetuses to 94 yr is very liable to degenerative alterations associated with aging. Degeneration begins in the 3rd decade and progressively increases in frequency and severity in subsequent decades. There was an associated pattern of degenerative changes in the wrist joint as a whole. The structures adjacent to the articular disc, i.e., the discal surface of the ulnar head and the discal part of the lunate, were much more often involved, and the changes were much more advanced, than on non-discal surfaces. This is apparently due to more intensive biomechanical forces, particularly rotational forces, in the disc compartment of the joint.