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Abstract
Background Carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) is
traditionally diagnosed by clinical evaluation and nerve
conduction studies (NCS). Ultrasound is now widely used
in the diagnosis of musculoskeletal disorders. The
objective of this study was to compare the sonographic
measurements of median nerve in patients of CTS with
NCS results, taking NCS as gold standard and to evaluate
the diagnostic role of ultrasound so that it could be used in
the diagnosis of CTS.
Methods: This cross sectional Analytical study was
carried out at Department of Radiology, Combined
Military Hospital Lahore over a period of one year from
21st August 2006 to 20th August 2007. One hundred and
twenty wrists in sixty CTS patients were imaged by high
resolution ultrasound. The cross sectional area of the
median nerve was measured at the level of pisiform bone.
All patients had nerve conduction studies. The ultrasound
measurements of the median nerve cross sectional area and
the results of nerve conduction studies were compared and
analyzed.
Results: The mean cross sectional area of the median
nerve at the level of pisifom was 13mm2 in CTS patients.
When NCS results were taken as gold standard, the
ultrasound yielded a sensitivity of 94.7%, specificity of
63.6% and diagnostic accuracy of 87.8%.
Conclusion: High resolution ultrasound is quite
accurate and it can be used reliably and cost effectively in
the diagnosis of CTS especially for screening of large
population of CTS patients.