Relationship between the Self-Administered Boston Questionnaire and Electrophysiological Findings in Follow-Up of Surgically-Treated Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

Abstract

A prospective study of electrophysiological examination and the Boston self-administered questionnaire (BQ) was carried out in patients with surgically-treated carpal tunnel syndrome. There were 104 hands in 93 patients (13 men and 80 women, mean age 56 years). The BQ was used to assess the severity of symptoms and function, and nerve conduction studies were done before surgical release by short incision at the palm, and at follow-ups 1 and 6 months after surgery. The BQ severity score improved or became normal in 98% of hands. The mean BQ scores and distal sensory and motor conduction velocities in the median nerve showed significant improvement at the 1 month follow-up. Further significant improvement was found at 6 months. There was no relationship between the improvements in BQ scores and the distal conduction in the median nerve. The degree of improvement in sensory and motor distal conduction velocities could be forecast from presurgical values, whereas the degree of improvement in the symptoms and the functional status after release could not be predicted from the presurgical BQ scores.

Electrophysiological and functional outcome after carpal tunnel release in patients with carpal tunnel syndrome: A prospective evaluation

“…who found that shortly after CTR; improved NSV and NML is accompanied by changes in compound muscle action potential (CMAP) with further improvement at 6 month post operatively. Similar results were shown in study conducted by Mondelli M et al 2000 [15] . NMV and NSV were significantly improved as early as 1 month post operatively and the NSL and NML improve much at 3 month, 6 month respectively.…”

The effect of steroid injection by Novel method in carpal tunnel syndrome on pain severity and electrophysiological findings

“…Similar reports have been reported by Dhong et al [14], as well as Dudley Porras et al [15]. However, Mondelli et al [16] and Demirci et al [17] did not show an association between the two parameters. BCTQ scale was used for subjective pain assessment in these reports.…”

Comparison of Partial Excision with Simple Section of the Transverse Carpal Ligament in the Treatment of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

“…The mean time to return to daily activities or work did not differ according to the type of surgical release used, but the results of partial excision were found to be superior to those of simple section. Although significant correlation between improvement in the nerve conduction velocities and clinical improvement could not be consistently demonstrated at follow-up in the previous studies, 25,28 our results could probably be more objective if we were able to perform electrophysiologic tests in all patients postoperatively.…”

“…The improvement rate after open section of the transverse carpal ligament ranges from 91 to 98 percent. 6,10,[25][26][27] In patients we treated with only simple section of the transverse carpal ligament, we found the improvement rate was 85 percent. Conversely, the improvement rate following partial excision was 97 percent, which was comparable to those of the previously reported series.…”