CARPAL TUNNEL SYNDROME

Background: Carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) is the most common entrapment neuropathy. The symptoms of CTS include pain,paraesthesia and hypoesthesia in the hand, in the area innervated by the median nerve, and often occurs or worsens during the night or earlymorning, waking the patient up. Physical examination and nerve conduction studies are used to diagnose this condition. Early diagnosis andtreatment of CTS are important because any delay can cause irreversible median nerve damage. Objective: To highlight the role of physicalexamination and nerve conduction study in the diagnosis of CTS. Setting: Kuwait teaching Hospital Peshawar. Period: June 2008 to June2010. Methods: Fifty patients of carpal tunnel syndrome were studied. All patients who reported numbness and/or tingling in the median nervedistribution in the hands at least twice weekly during the preceding four weeks were enrolled to undergo clinical examination and nerveconduction tests. Following the clinical examination the symptomatic persons underwent bilateral nerve conduction tests. Results: Out of thesetwelve patients were males and thirty eight were females with a ratio of 1:3.1. The age range was between 20 to 60 years. CTS was bilateral in 22patients (44%), right-sided in 23(46%) patients and left-sided in 5(10%) patients. Conclusions: In addition to the clinical presentation,electrophysiology has been proposed as the standard of care for diagnosing CTS with a recommendation that it should be performed in allcases.