Original article
English
Seddag Bendalla, Abdurazag Shakshuki, Aiman Baugrara and Eman Y. Haghegh
Orthopaedic Department, Alkhadra Hospital, Tripoli, Libya
JMJ Vo1.7 No.1 (Spring) 2007:16-19
Abstract
Thirty patients with Carpal Tunnel Syndrome have been treated in the orthopaedic department of Alkhadra Hospital in the period (2004 to 2006). The study included, 27 females (90%) and 3 males (10%), aged from 40 to 60 years. The duration of the symptoms ranged from 1 month to 24 months. The diagnosis depended mainly on symptoms which included pain, numbness and paraesthesiae and some with motor weakness, and clinical tests as Phalen’s test, Tinel’s test and conformation with EMG/ENG study was used as diagnostic criteria. In our study, there were different models of management including conservative (analgesics, local injections, physiotherapy) and surgery. The results reveal that 70% of patients underwent surgery as a 1st line of treatment in 57.2% of them, while it was the 2nd line of treatment in 42.8% of them after failure of conservative treatment. In conclusion, the classic symptoms and signs made the diagnosis and treatment easy to establish, but patients with severe symptoms (motor weakness) have poor response to conservative treatment while surgery gives better results. Pregnant patients and mild cases with CTS respond well to conservative treatment.
Keywords: Carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS); Nerve conduction velocity (NCV); Electromyogram (EMG); Non steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID).
Link/DOI: http://www.jmj.org.ly/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=1367