Dorsal wrist pain and the occult scapholunate ganglion.

Ten consecutive patients who presented with dorsal wrist pain, no history of trauma, and no physical signs other than local tenderness over the scapholunate ligament junction had surgery. The obvious pathologic finding in eight was ganglionic degeneration in a particular area on the dorsal scapholunate interosseous ligament. The operation resulted in dramatic relief of pain and return to full function for the duration of follow-up in most patients.