title: Ultrasound for carpal tunnel syndrome screening in manual laborers.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Manual laborers are at increased risk for carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS), and a combination of history, physical examination, and nerve conduction studies is often used to screen for CTS in this population. Neuromuscular ultrasound may be a better screening tool, because it is painless. In this study we compare the accuracy of nerve conduction studies and ultrasound for CTS screening.
  
  
  METHODS
  Five hundred thirteen manual laborers were screened prospectively for CTS using nerve conduction studies and neuromuscular ultrasound, and the accuracy of the 2 techniques was compared using the Katz hand diagram as the diagnostic standard.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The ROC curves for the 2 techniques were not significantly different (P = 0.542), indicating that the approaches had similar diagnostic accuracy.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Neuromuscular ultrasound is a painless technique that has diagnostic accuracy similar to nerve conduction studies and can be used to screen large populations at risk for CTS.
authors: Department of Neurology, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Main Floor Reynolds Tower, Winston-Salem, North Carolina 27157, USA. mcartwri@wakehealth.edu
authors: Michael S
authors: MS
authors: Cartwright
authors: Francis O
authors: FO
authors: Walker
authors: Jill N
authors: JN
authors: Blocker
authors: Mark R
authors: MR
authors: Schulz
authors: Thomas A
authors: TA
authors: Arcury
authors: Joseph G
authors: JG
authors: Grzywacz
authors: Dana
authors: D
authors: Mora
authors: Haiying
authors: H
authors: Chen
authors: Antonio J
authors: AJ
authors: Marín
authors: Sara A
authors: SA
authors: Quandt
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002349:Carpal Tunnel Syndrome / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000208:ethnology / Q000503:physiopathology; D005260:Female; D005525:Food-Processing Industry; D006630:Hispanic or Latino / Q000208:ethnology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008403:Mass Screening / Q000379:methods*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009431:Neural Conduction / Q000502:physiology; D009784:Occupational Diseases / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000208:ethnology / Q000503:physiopathology; D011446:Prospective Studies; D014463:Ultrasonography; D055815:Young Adult
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