title: Correlation between the severity of carpal tunnel syndrome and color Doppler sonography findings.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) represents one of the most prevalent peripheral entrapment mononeuropathies. The purpose of our study was to assess the potential correlation between intraneural hypervascularization, flexor retinaculum bowing, and median nerve cross-sectional area and the severity of CTS in cases confirmed by nerve conduction study.
  
  
  METHODS
  Sixty consecutive patients with classic or probable symptoms of CTS were enrolled in the study. A control group consisting of 27 healthy volunteers who were never diagnosed with CTS or had any symptoms of CTS was recruited among institution employees. All symptomatic patients were initially examined by a hand surgeon and subsequently referred for sonographic and electrophysiologic examinations.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 90 wrists (in 60 patients) were included in the study. Twenty-eight (31.1%) had mild CTS, 33 had moderate disease, and 29 had severe disease. We detected significant correlation between median nerve hypervascularization and the severity of CTS (p = 0.01, logistic regression) for moderate CTS and (p = 0.04) for severe disease. We also detected a significant correlation in flexor retinaculum bowing and median nerve cross-sectional area with increase in the severity of CTS (p < 0.001 and < 0.008; chi-square test and analysis of variance, respectively).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our study suggests that the severity of CTS strongly correlates with color Doppler sonography findings, and this technique may represent a reliable complementary tool in CTS examination.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Urmia University of Medical Sciences, Urmia, West-Azerbaijan, Iran.
authors.forename: Afshin
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mohammadi
authors.forename: Mohammad
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ghasemi-Rad
authors.forename: Nikol
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Mladkova-Suchy
authors.forename: Sanam
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ansari
mesh_terms: D000704:Analysis of Variance; D002349:Carpal Tunnel Syndrome / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009460:Neurologic Examination; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D018615:Ultrasonography, Doppler, Color