[Evaluation of carpal tunnel and subepineural pressures in leprous neuropathies of the median nerve at the wrist].

The authors measured the carpal tunnel and intraneural pressures with a soft catheter in fifteen cases of leprous neuritis of the median nerve at the wrist. In the carpal tunnel, the pressure was about 40 mm of mercury, while within the nerve, the pressure was about 25 mm of mercury. In five healthy male volunteers, the same pressures were measured: the results were much lower (2 to 4 mm of mercury). The authors call attention to the high pressures found in acute leprous neuritis. They conclude that the sooner a surgical procedure (careful neurolysis) is performed, the better the results, before irreparable nerve damage occurs.