title: Comparison of Knifelight Surgery versus Conventional Open Surgery in the Treatment of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  A variety of surgical treatment methods for carpal tunnel syndrome are introduced recently, including open surgery, endoscopic and the Knifelight. It is hypothesized that Knifelight method could decrease scar tenderness and time before return to daily activities for patients and is accompanied with less disturbance to fine sensory nerves.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To compare the Knifelight instrument and open carpal tunnel release with respect to scar length, operation duration, recovery time needed before return to work and amount of pain three weeks after surgery in patients with neurophysiologically confirmed carpal tunnel syndrome.
  
  
  METHODS
  FIFTY NINE PATIENTS WITH INDICATION FOR CARPAL TUNNEL RELEASE RANDOMLY ASSIGNED INTO TWO GROUPS: open (n=30) or Knifelight (n=29). The patients compared regarding scar length, operation duration, time to return to daily activities and amount of pain at three weeks after operation based on Visual Analog Scale.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There was no significant differences regarding age and sex in the two groups. The scar length, operation duration and time before return to daily activities were significantly lower in the Knifelight group. Although the mean visual analogue scale of Knifelight group found to be lower than the other, it was not statistically significant.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The Knifelight technique is accompanied with advantages over the open surgery regarding operation time, scar length and time to return to daily activities. The pain relieve based on Visual Analog Scale was not statistically different from conventional open surgery.
authors.affiliation: School of Medicine, Hamadan University of Medical Sciences, Hamadan, IR Iran.
authors.forename: Amin
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Heidarian
authors.affiliation: School of Medicine, Hamadan University of Medical Sciences, Hamadan, IR Iran.
authors.forename: Hamidreza
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Abbasi
authors.affiliation: School of Medicine, Hamadan University of Medical Sciences, Hamadan, IR Iran.
authors.forename: Mehdi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hasanzadeh Hoseinabadi
authors.affiliation: School of Medicine, Hamadan University of Medical Sciences, Hamadan, IR Iran.
authors.forename: Azin
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hajialibeyg
authors.affiliation: Endocrinology and Metabolism Research Center, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, IR Iran.
authors.forename: Seyed Mohammad
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Kalantar Motamedi
authors.affiliation: Endocrinology and Metabolism Research Center, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, IR Iran.
authors.forename: Soroush
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Seifirad
keywords: Carpal Tunnel Syndrome; Case-Control Studies; Minimally Invasive; Surgical Procedures