Evaluation of Clinical Symptoms in Patients with Different Severities of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

Background: The carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) is a common neuropathy caused bythe entrapment of the median nerve in the carpal tunnel. It causes pain andparesthesia in the hand.Objectives: To evaluate the role of clinical symptoms of CTS to determine theseverity of this disorder.Materials and Methods: This descriptive cross-sectional study examined 75 handsof 40 patients were referred with CTS symptoms to Kashani and Alzahra hospitals inIsfahan, Iran, with signs of CTS from 2014 to 2015. The definitive diagnosis andseverity of the disease were determined using electromyography and nerveconduction study (EMG-NCS). The correlation of the severity of CTS with clinicalsymptoms was examined using Spearman’s correlation coefficient and Man-Whitneytest.Results: A total of 75 hands with CTS in 40 patients with mean age of 49.73 ± 12.53years were examined (24% males, 76% female). The severity of CTS directly andsignificantly correlated with age, physical activities done with the involved hand,shaking or ringing the hands, weakness or atrophy of the thenar eminence, positivePhalen s test, and positive reverse Phalen’s test (p<0.05). It correlated with durationof signs (p<0.05) inversely and significantly and did not correlate with the score ofpain (VAS) (p> 0.05).Conclusion: It is concluded that the different severities of the disease cannot bedifferentiated only through evaluation of clinical symptoms although they played themain role in diagnosis of the disease. Thus, electrodiagnostic evidence is still requiredfor determining its severity and planning the treatment.

Evaluation of Clinical Symptoms in Patients with Different Severities of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome Keywords:

Carpal Tunnel Syndrome , Electrodiagnosis , Electromyography , Neural Conduction