Kienböck's Disease: A Narrative Review of Pathophysiology, Etiology, and Classification Systems

Kienböck's disease affects the lunate bone and results in avascular necrosis. It remains a disease that is not widely understood in terms of disease progression and the pathophysiology surrounding it. Despite multiple studies existing about the surgical management options, there is still no consensus about the ideal surgical modality for it. In this narrative review, the aim was to read and summarise existing literature about the pathophysiology, causes, and current classification systems. The search databases used included PubMed, EMBASE, and Google Scholar with search words, including "Kienböck", "Kienböck disease", "lunate avascular necrosis", "Lichtman classification", "Kienböck classification", 'Kienböck litigation", "avascular necrosis". The majority of published research focused mainly on the treatment options and history of the disease, with a limited number of papers about the etiology, pathophysiology, and progression.