Andrea Dominguez, Medical Student, Autonoma University of
Barcelone, Spain
Laura Lucia Mira, Roberto Seijas, Ramon Cugat, Orthopedic
Surgery, Garcia Cugat Foundation Quiron Hospital Barcelone, Spain
Andrea Sallent, Vall Hebron Hospital Barcelone, Spain
Laura Lucia Mira, Roberto Seijas, Carles Escalona, Oscar Ares,
Basic Sciences Department, International University of Catalunya,
Spain
Oscar Ares, Hospital Clinic Barcelona, Spain
Confict-of-interest statement: The author(s) declare(s) that there
is no confict of interest regarding the publication of this paper.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was
selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external
reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Com-
mons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which
permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-
commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms,
provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-
commercial. See: http: //creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Roberto Seijas, MD, PhD, Quiron Hospital
Barcelona, Pza. Alfonso Comín 5-7, 08035 Barcelone, Spain.
Email: roberto6jas@gmail.com
Telephone: +34932172252
Fax: +34932381634
Received: February 9, 2017
Revised: April 19, 2017
Accepted: April 21 2017
Published online: June 28, 2017
ABSTRACT
AIM: To study the short-term (considered as a 1-month period after
surgery) outcomes experienced by patients following median nerve
release due to carpal tunnel syndrome.
MATERIAL AND METHODS: A longitudinal cohort study was
performed between September 2013 and October 2014. Inclusion cri-
teria included suffering from CTS for at least six months confrmed
by clinical and electromyographyc criteria and undergoing median
nerve release. Exclusion criteria were pregnancy, patients with acute
CTS and patients who were not able to read or non-Spanish speakers.
All participants completed the questionnaires DASH, SF-36 and a
Visual Analogue Scale for Pain, preoperatively and one month after
surgery.
RESULTS: Thirty patients were included, 22 women and 8 men.
DASH and VAS showed statistical signifcant differences before and
after surgery (p < 0.05) whereas SF-36 did not show signifcant dif-
ferences.
CONCLUSION: This study shows that median nerve surgical re-
lease for CTS has satisfying outcomes in only one month from sur-
gery.
Key words: Carpal tunnel release; Short term outcomes; SF-36;
DASH; Functional outcomes
© 2017 The Author(s). Published by ACT Publishing Group Ltd. All
rights reserved.
Dominguez A, Mira LL, Sallent A, Seijas R, Escalona C, Cugat
R, Ares O. Short-Term Outcomes after Median Nerve Release for
Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. International Journal of Orthopaedics
2017; 4(3): 758-762 Available from: URL: http: //www.ghrnet.org/
index.php/ijo/article/view/1986
INTRODUCTION
The American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS) de-
fines carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) as “symptomatic compressive
neuropathy of the median nerve at the wrist.”
[1,2]
. CTS is the most
frequent compression peripheral neuropathy in the hand. It is esti-
mated to affect 3.8% of the general population
[3]
with an incidence
of 276: 100,000 a year
[4]
. It occurs more frequently in women, with
a prevalence of 9.2% among women and 6% in men
[2,5]
. CTS is
the most popular and common form of compression of the median
nerve
[1,6-8]
and it makes up for 90% of all compression neuropathies
[9]
.
TOPIC HIGHLIGHT
Short-Term Outcomes after Median Nerve Release for Carpal
Tunnel Syndrome
Andrea Dominguez, Laura Lucia Mira, Andrea Sallent, Roberto Seijas, Carles Escalona, Ramon Cugat, Oscar
Ares
758
Int. J. of Orth. 2017 June 28; 4(3): 758-762
ISSN 2311-5106 (Print), ISSN 2313-1462 (Online)
Online Submissions: http://www.ghrnet.org/index.php/ijo
doi:10.17554/j.issn.2311-5106.2017.04.214
International Journal of Orthopaedics