J Korean Acad Rehabil Med.  2006 Aug;30(4):346-352.

The Two Year's Follow Up Study of Symptomatic Hands without Electrodiagnostic Evidence of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

• Lee JM
• Ryu GH
• Jeon JY
• Lee KW
• Choi JH
• Lim HS
• Kwon YW

Abstract

OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this study was to determine the natural history of symptomatic hands without electrodiagnostic evidence of carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS). METHOD: This study was comprised of 88 hands of 49 subjects with symptoms consistent with CTS without median mononeuropathy who were recruited during a community health examination and followed after two years. 88 hands of 44 people with age and sex-matched healthy controls were followed for comparison. Symptoms and electrodiagnostic findings were compared between the two groups.
RESULTS
62 hands of the symptomatic group had persistent symptoms after 2 years while 16 hands of the control group had symptoms consistent with CTS. Median motor distal latencies were significantly delayed after two years in the symptomatic group (p<0.05). Median sensory latencies were also delayed in the symptomatic group, but this was not statistically significant (p=0.064). The occurrence rate of median mononeuropathy at wrist was significantly higher in the symptomatic group than in the control group (13.6% vs. 2.3%)(p<0.05).
CONCLUSION
The results of this study suggested that a significant number of symptomatic hands without electrodiagnostic evidence of CTS may have persistent symptoms and may progress to electrodiagnostically evident CTS.

Keyword

Carpal tunnel syndrome; Median nerve conduction; Mononeuropathy

MeSH Terms

Carpal Tunnel Syndrome*
Follow-Up Studies*
Hand*
Mononeuropathies
Natural History
Wrist