RESEARCH ARTICLE
Anatomical Localization of Lister’s Tubercle and its Clinical and Surgical Importance
İsmail Ağır*, 1, Mahmut Nedim Aytekin2, Fatih Küçükdurmaz3, Servan Gökhan4, Umut Yücel Çavuş4
Article Information
Identifiers and Pagination:
Year: 2014Volume: 8
First Page: 74
Last Page: 77
Publisher ID: TOORTHJ-8-74
DOI: 10.2174/1874325001408010074
Article History:
Received Date: 8/12/2013Revision Received Date: 3/4/2014
Acceptance Date: 6/4/2014
Electronic publication date: 4/4/2014
Collection year: 2014

open-access license: This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/) which permits unrestrictive use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Abstract
The dorsal tubercle of the radius, once called Lister’s tubercle, is used as a landmark in wrist arthroscopy, wrist joint injections, and similar surgical and clinical procedures. However, there is no useful information in the reference anatomy books and literature. The aim of this study was to identify the anatomical localization of Lister’s tubercle on the dorsum of radius in relation to the radial styloid process and the ulnar notch of radius and to demonstrate the clinical and surgical importance of these relationships. We studied 20 dried cadaver radius specimens. The distances from Lister’s tubercle to the radial styloid process and to the ulnar notch were measured by using a digital micrometer caliber and the ratio of the two measures was calculated. The dorsal tubercle of the radius is variable in position and can be either closer to the radial styloid process or to the ulnar notch. The present study showed that in 11 of the radii the dorsal tubercle of the radius was nearer to the radial styloid process than the ulnar notch, while in 9 subjects it was nearer to the ulnar notch. This anatomical variation may be relevant for wrist injections, wrist artroscopy or wrist surgery.