Role of electrophysiological studies and magnetic resonance imaging in diagnosis of idiopathic carpal tunnel syndrome

الملخص EN

Material: This study was performed on 30 patients who had the clinical manifestations of idiopathic carpal tunnel syndrome “ICTS”.

They were 24 females and 6 males.

Their ages ranged from 25-64 years with a mean (38.57 ± 6.8 years).

The duration of symptoms ranged from 0.5 – 18 months with a mean (6.2 ± 39 months).

Methods: All patients were subjected to complete history taking and thorough clinical examination.

All patients’ wrists (60 wrists) were subjected to electrophysiologyical studies and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).

Results: The prevalence of ICTS in the examined 60 wrists was 70% by clinical diagnosis (42 wrists had ICTS clinically), 78.3% by electrophysiological studies (47 wrists had ICTS by electrophysiological tests) and 58.3% by MRI (35 wrists had abnormal MRI finding suggesting ICTS).

The results also showed that the sensitivity of electrophysiological tests, in diagnosis of ICTS, was 92.9% and its specificity was 81% but the sensitivity of MRI, in diagnosis of ICTS, was 73.8% and its specificity was 90.5%.

Conclusion: Electrophysiological studies are important to confirm the diagnosis of ICTS and to detect the degree of median nerve dysfunction.

Also, MRI is an accurate and reliable method for diagnosis of ICTS especially when electrodiagnosis abnormalities suggest more severe disease than expected or are otherwise discordant with clinical findings.

MRI also helps to select patients most likely to benefit from surgical treatment.