Ultrasonographic Findings in Patients with Refractory Symptoms after Primary Release Surgery for Carpal Tunnel Syndrome: with Surgical Correlation
Abstract
Purpose: Surgical release of the tunnel is very effective in relieving symptoms and remains to be the preferred choice of treatment in carpal tunnel syndrome. However, refractory symptoms following surgical release are not very rare. The purpose of this study was to determine the power of ultrasonography in presenting the potential causes of ongoing symptoms following surgical release of the carpal tunnel.
Methods: Thirty-four patients were evaluated in this retrospective study.
Results: In 25 patients (74.5%), ultrasonography detected a pathology related to the cause of the ongoing symptoms. The most common pathologic findings detected were median nerve swelling (70.6%), incomplete transection of transverse carpal ligament (23.5%) and perineural fibrosis (17.6%). However, in nine (26.5%) of the patients; ultrasonography was not capable of detecting any pathology which could explain the cause of the persistent symptoms.
Conclusions: In the majority of the cases; ultrasonographic examination was capable of detecting the pathology related to the ongoing symptoms. This finding reveals that ultrasonography could be used as a complementary imaging method for identifying the causes of failure following carpal tunnel release surgery. Detection of an ongoing pathology might help the clinician in the management of the persistent disease, and aid in planning a re-exploration.
DOI: 10.3944/AOTT.2015.14.0198
This abstract belongs to the un-edited version of the article and is only for informative purposes. Published version may differ from the current version.