Lunate dislocation…

This patient presented with wrist pain after a fall:

This is an example of a lunate dislocation.  The lunate can be seen on the lateral view (blue arrow).  It is dislocated quite a far distance.  Also note that the lunate is not in its usual location on the AP view.

The above radiographs are not subtle.  Keep in mind that lunate dislocation is sometimes not so obvious.  We visited lunate and perilunate dislocation on a prior post (lunate).  Stay tuned in the future for tips on reading wrist radiographs to avoid missing any subtle injuries.

Author:  Russell Jones, MD