MRI Measurement of Median Nerve Compression in Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

Carpal tunnel Syndrome is a well-established disease entity when median nerves is compressed within the carnal carpal tunnel that is bound by rigid bony structure and volar transverse carpal ligament. Cutting the transverse carpal ligament to relieve the pressure of median nerve had been performed for many years. However, there is still little morphological study to consolidate the rationale of this kind of treatment. In this study, we performed MRI on 19 wrists in 11 patients and 12 wrists in 6 normal volunteers. The diagnosis of carpal tunnel syndrome was all confirmed by electrophysiological study. MRI measurements included median nerve area, carpal tunnel area, transverse carpal ligament thickness, AP diameter of median nerve, AP/medial-lateral diameter of carpal tunnel, and AP/medial-lateral diameter of wrist. Statistical analysis revealed that there is a significant decreased ratio of area of median nerve over area of carpal tunnel in the diseased wrists, from 6.6 mm proximal to hook of hamate till the level of hamate hook. This result suggested that the release of transverse carpal should include 6.6 mm proximal to the hook of hamate till the level of hamate hook.

並列關鍵字

MRI ； carpal tunnel syndrome ； Chinese

國際替代計量

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