Endoscopic carpal tunnel release with or without suture: Does it make a difference? A case-control study.

A case-control study was conducted to compare wound healing with or without skin suture after endoscopic carpal tunnel release. The primary endpoint was esthetics on the Manchester Scar Scale (MSS). Patients were recruited between April 2016 and April 2017. Inclusion criteria comprised carpal tunnel syndrome with clinical and electromyographic confirmation on the Canterbury NCS (nerve conduction studies) Severity Scale. Age, gender, occupation, handedness, smoking status, and operated side were noted. In the first group (64 patients) the skin was not sutured. In the second group (44 patients) the skin was closed Ethilon™ 5-0 intradermal running suture. All 108 patients had 3 months' follow-up. Since data were not normally distributed, analysis was performed with the Mann-Whitney U test (MWU) for independent samples. There were no significant differences in age (p = 0,416), gender (p = 0.670) or occupation (p = 0.725) between groups. MSS score did not significantly differ between groups (MWU test; p = 0.529): sutureless, 6.64 ± 1.21; sutured, 6.45 + 1.09. Thus, sutureless wound closure can be a useful option in treating carpal tunnel syndrome by a single-portal endoscopic technique. That the wound remains open enables easy evacuation of any hematoma, avoiding pain due increased intra-tissular pressure.