[The results of open surgical release in carpal tunnel syndrome and evaluation of follow-up criteria].
OBJECTIVE
We evaluated the results of open surgical release in patients with carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) and assessed the necessity of a clinical scoring system and electromyography (EMG) in the postoperative follow-up.


METHODS
The study included 24 wrists of 15 patients (9 females, 6 males; mean age 49.2 years; range 23 to 70 years) in whom a diagnosis of CTS was made by clinical examination and EMG. The patients underwent open surgical release and were followed-up for a mean of 21.5 months (range 7 to 40 months), during which they were evaluated by the Boston scale (BS) for clinical scoring and EMG. Postoperative findings of BS and EMG were compared in terms of their utility during follow-up.


RESULTS
Statistically significant differences were found between preoperative and follow-up EMG values of motor distal latency, sensorial latency, combined motor muscle potential amplitudes, and sensorial latency amplitudes (p<0.05). Of twenty-four wrists, 16 (66.6%) showed improvement, and eight (33.3%) showed marked improvement. Similarly, preoperative and follow-up BS scores showed significant differences in favor of treatment results (p<0.05). The Boston scale scores and EMG results were found consistent in showing treatment outcome.


CONCLUSIONS
Open surgical release of CTS provides favorable results that can be sufficiently evaluated by the clinical scoring system alone. Electromyographic studies do not seem to add extra benefits to the postoperative evaluation of patients with CTS.
Akman
Senol
S
Department of Orthopedics and Traumatology (2. Ortopedi ve Travmatoloji Kliniği), Sişli Etfal Training and Research Hospital, Istanbul, Turkey. senolakman@hotmail.com
Ertürer
Erden
E
Celik
Münevver
M
Aksoy
Bülent
B
Gür
Bülent
B
Oztürk
Irfan
I
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002349:Carpal Tunnel Syndrome / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000601:surgery*; D004576:Electromyography; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008475:Median Nerve / Q000503:physiopathology; D008875:Middle Aged; D019637:Orthopedic Procedures / Q000379:methods; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014421:Turkey; D014955:Wrist Joint / Q000294:innervation / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000601:surgery