[The duration of the symptoms of carpal tunnel syndrome to the diagnosis].

UNLABELLED: Carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) is the most common entrapment neuropathy. Efficacy of the surgical treatment is dependent on the severity of median nerve injury.

THE AIM OF STUDY: To determine the average duration of symptoms to diagnosis CTS.

MATERIAL AND

METHODS

Survey study conceming the duration of symptoms of CTS to establishing the diagnosis was conducted between 192 consecutive patients with CTS referred to the Electrophysiology Laboratory of the Military Institute of Medicine for the confirmatory EMG testing. The questionnaire included question concerning the duration of symptoms of neuropathy of the median nerve and the selected epidemiological data, i.e., gender, age, place of residence, profession, comorbidities, specialization of referring physician. Nerve conduction parameters of median and ulnarnerves were assessed by means of study ENG/EMG (amplitude, conduction velocity and final latency in motor fibers). Some of the patients had performed comparative tests of the median nerve and ulnar or radial nerves. On the basis of these values the severity of carpal tunnel syndrome was determined according to the Padua's classification.

RESULTS

In the group of women surveyed duration of symptoms until diagnosis was on average 39,6 months (from 1 month to 20 years), while in men this time was on average 37.4 months (from I month to 7 years).

CONCLUSIONS

The results of this study indicate that the average duration of symptoms CTS until diagnosis is long and can have a negative impact on the results of treatment.