MEDIAN NERVE COMPRESSION & ITS RELATION TO IDIOPATHIC CARPAL TUNNEL SYNDROME

Abstract

CARPAL TUNNEL SYNDROME (CTS) IS A COMMON NEUROPATHY ASSOCIATED WITH MEDIAN NERVE COMPRESSION. IDIOPATHIC CTS CASES, HOWEVER, LACK THESE NERVE HISTOLOGICAL SYMPTOMS. IN THE FIRST PART OF THIS STUDY, MAGNETIC RESONANCE IMAGING (MRI) WAS UTILIZED TO STUDY MORPHOLOGICAL CHANGES IN THE CARPAL TUNNEL. IN THE SECOND AND THIRD STUDIES, NERVE AND TENDON DISPLACEMENTS AND DEFORMATIONS WERE RECORDED THROUGHOUT FIST MOTION, AND INDIVIDUAL FINGER FLEXION ACTIONS, RESPECTIVELY. IN THE FOURTH STUDY, A HYPOECHOGENIC AREA UNDER ULTRASOUND OF THE WRIST WAS QUANTIFIED, DURING FIST ACTION. FINALLY, TO QUANTITATIVELY DETERMINE WHICH FINGER MOVEMENT ELICITED THE GREATEST MEDIAN NERVE PRESSURE, A COMPUTERIZED CARPAL TUNNEL MODEL WAS GENERATED FROM AN MRI OF A HEALTHY CANDIDATE, AND TENDON DISPLACEMENTS, ASSOCIATED TO A FINGER MOTION, WAS PRESCRIBED. BY COMBINING NERVE DEFORMATION, NERVE-TENDON INTERACTION STUDIES AND COMPUTERIZED NERVE PRESSURE SIMULATIONS, WE MAY BETTER ELUCIDATE CTS ETIOLOGY. THIS, IN TURN