Frequency of Local Treatment in Carpal Tunnel Syndrome during Pregnancy

Abstract

Background and Aim: The most common entrapment neuropathy is carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS). Carpal tunnel syndrome is caused by median nerve compression at the wrist joint. Idiopathic carpal tunnel syndrome is the most common cause. Among the other physiologic causes of carpal tunnel syndrome (wrist trauma, diabetes, hypothyroidism, rheumatoid arthritis, occupation, contraception, and pregnancy), pregnancy is the most common. The objective of the present study was to determine the frequency of local treatment in carpal tunnel syndrome during pregnancy. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was carried out on 45 pregnant women with carpal tunnel syndrome in the departments of Neurology and Gynaecology, Ayub Teaching Hospital, Abbottabad from May 2020 to April 2021. Individuals who met the inclusioncriteria were enrolled in this study. Ethical approval and consent forms were taken from the participants. All the patients were treated with local treatment (dexamethasone acetate 4 mg and lidocaine 0.5 ml) under the carpal tunnel syndrome. Before and after 3 weeks of local injection, median nerve electro physiologic parameters through sensory nerve conduction velocity (SNCV), sensory latency (DSL), pain intensity (visual analog scale or VAS) and distal motor latency (DML) were all noted. Results: The mean age of the patients was 29± 5.3 years while mean weight gain was 13.2 ± 4.9 kg. The third trimester was the mostfrequent pregnancy trimester with carpal tunnel syndrome. Before and after 3weeks, the average pain score of injected dexamethasone acetate was 8.65 ±0.89 and 4.29 ± 0.74 respectively (p-value < 0.005). Additionally, the median nerve SNCV transcarpalwas 32.9 ±7.1 and 25.1 ± 7.2 m/s (p-value = 0.001); while DSL median nerve was4.87±0.81 ms and 4.1±0.62. Lastly, the DML of the median nerve before and after 3weeks of local treatment was 5.2±1.03 and 4.69±0.54 ms respectively. Conclusion: Pain intensity and electrophysiological factors were considerablyimproved after local treatment dexamethasone acetate injection. Encouraging results have been offered for carpal tunnel syndrome with minimum invasive treatment in pregnant women. Keywords: Carpal tunnel syndrome, Pain intensity, local treatment