Accuracy of Ultrasound in Diagnosis of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome in Correlation with Operative Findings Al-hialy Laith F. Farman* College of Medicine, University of Baghdad, Iraq *Corresponding author: Laith F. Farman Al hialy, E-mail: drlaithfadhel@gmail.com
Online published on 30 April, 2019. Abstract Carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) is the most common entrapment neuropathy; it is responsible for significant morbidity and occupational absence. Clinical assessment is used for initial diagnosis and Nerve Conductive studies are currently the principal test used to confirm the diagnosis; Ultrasound (US) can be used as an alternative to NC studies to diagnose CTS. US can assess the anatomy of the median nerve & it's the only way to detect adhesion during dynamic examination and also identify pathology of the surrounding structures that may compress the nerve. The aim of current study was to identify the accuracy of US in the diagnosis of CTS in correlation with the operative findings. A prospective study included 65 patients with CTS, all of them examined with superficial ultrasound pre operatively were US findings collected, 52 patient of them operated surgically and operative finding recorded, in this study we considered the operative findings as gold stander for correlation its findings with our ultrasound findings, no similar researches was found, but many researches correlate and compare the ultrasound findings with clinical symptoms, neural conductive study or MRI findings. Enlargement of the median nerve as it enters the carpal tunnel was frequently detected (41) times among the whole sample patients (65) and from the (52) operated patient (28) times recorded, the ultrasound examination was 87% accuracy with 88% Sensitivity, 85% Specificity with PV= 0.001. Ultrasound examination is very significant and sensitive in diagnosis of (CTS) could be used confidently in symptomatic patient as fist line examination approach, and it is the only modality that can assess the fixation of median nerve in the carpal tunnel through dynamic technique. Top Keywords Carpal tunnel syndrome, ultrasound examination, operative findings. Top |