%0 Journal Article
%T Ultrasonic Assessment of Females with Carpal Tunnel Syndrome Proved by Nerve Conduction Study
%A Ihsan M. Ajeena
%A Raed H. Al-Saad
%A Ahmed Al-Mudhafar
%A Najah R. Hadi
%A Sawsan H. Al-Aridhy
%J Neural Plasticity
%D 2013
%I Hindawi Publishing Corporation
%R 10.1155/2013/754564
%X Introduction. Carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) is the most commonly diagnosed entrapment neuropathy of the upper extremity. The objective of this study was to diagnose CTS and to assess its severity using high resolution ultrasound (HRUS) depending on the results of nerve conduction study (NCS). Methods. A prospective cross-sectional study, in which HRUS was performed at 63 wrists of 35 female patients with different severity of CTS (as proved by NCS). Furthermore, 40 healthy volunteers (80 wrists) underwent the same tests as the patients and have been chosen to match the patients in gender, age, and body mass index (BMI). The cross section area (CSA) of the median nerve (MN) was obtained using HRUS at the carpal tunnel inlet by direct tracing method. Results. There was a significant difference in the CSA of the MN at the tunnel inlet in CTS patients when compared with the control group. In fact, the CSA of the control group showed a significant difference from each of patients subgroups. Furthermore, a significant difference in the CSA was seen in between these subgroups. In conclusion, the US examination of the MN seems to be a promising method in diagnosing and grading of carpal tunnel syndrome. 1. Introduction Carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) or compression neuropathy of the median nerve (MN) at the wrist is the most common form of peripheral entrapment neuropathy [1, 2]. It accounts for 90% of all entrapment neuropathies [3] and it is particularly prevalent in middle-aged women [4] and is recognized as one of the most important causes of the workplace morbidity [5]. The prevalence of CTS in the United Kingdom was 7¨C16% in 2010, while in the United States was only 5% [6]. The diagnosis of CTS involves combination of a detailed clinical history, accurate examination, and appropriate electrodiagnostic studies (EDS) [7]. High resolution ultrasound (HRUS) has emerged as a feasible, simple, relatively low-cost, rapid, accurate, and noninvasive imaging method for evaluating the MN in the carpal tunnel [1, 2, 4, 5, 8¨C21]. Despite that, some authors consider that the role of ultrasound scanning (US) in diagnosis of CTS is yet to be proven [22] and other stated that US appears to be of little use in the diagnosis of CTS [9]. By contrast, Wong et al. [10] proposed an algorithm involving initial US examination of patients suspected of having CTS and secondary EDS performed only when US results were negative. Furthermore, some studies stated that US could be used to grade the severity of CTS [18]. In addition to the detection of increased cross sectional area (CSA) of
%U http://www.hindawi.com/journals/np/2013/754564/