This Article  • Full text  • PDF  • Send to a friend  • Save in My Folder  • Save to citation manager  • Permissions  Citing Articles  • Contact me when this article is cited  Related Content  • Related articles  • Similar articles in JAMA  Social Bookmarking   What's this?

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

To the Editor: In their study, Dr Gerritsen and colleagues¹ confirmed the diagnosis of CTS with electrophysiological testing. It is possible, however, that discrepancies between functional nerve conduction studies and structural imaging techniques may predict response to conservative or surgical treatment. It appears that conventional sonography has less sensitivity than nerve conduction studies (0.70 vs 0.98, respectively), but greater specificity (0.63 vs 0.19, respectively).² Inclusion of sonographic measurement of the median nerve cross-sectional area performs even better, with sensitivity as high as 89% and a specificity of 83%.³ Higher ultrasound frequencies (15 MHz) allow excellent resolution for differentiation of mild nerve alterations.⁴ Addition of color Doppler sonography could further help in delineation of an underlying inflammatory process.

Furthermore, local corticosteroid injection is an anti-inflammatory conservative approach.⁵ In one study, 50% of patients (compared with 7% of controls) did not need a further treatment after a single local injection of . . . [Full Text of this Article]

CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter     What's this?

RELATED ARTICLES

Splinting vs Surgery for Carpal Tunnel Syndrome
Margit L. Bleecker
JAMA. 2003;289(4):420.
EXTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Splinting vs Surgery for Carpal Tunnel Syndrome
Ernest W. Johnson
JAMA. 2003;289(4):420.
EXTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Splinting vs Surgery for Carpal Tunnel Syndrome
Daniel L. Menkes
JAMA. 2003;289(4):420-421.
EXTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Splinting vs Surgery for Carpal Tunnel Syndrome
Benjamin M. Sucher
JAMA. 2003;289(4):421.
EXTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Splinting vs Surgery for Carpal Tunnel Syndrome
Annette A. M. Gerritsen, Henrica C. W. de Vet, Rob J. P. M. Scholten, Frits W. Bertelsmann, Marc C. T. F. M. de Krom, and Lex M. Bouter
JAMA. 2003;289(4):421-422.
EXTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Splinting vs Surgery for Carpal Tunnel Syndrome
Michael I. Weintraub
JAMA. 2003;289(4):422.
EXTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Splinting vs Surgery for Carpal Tunnel Syndrome
E. F. Shaw Wilgis
JAMA. 2003;289(4):422-423.
EXTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Splinting vs Surgery in the Treatment of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome: A Randomized Controlled Trial
Annette A. M. Gerritsen, Henrica C. W. de Vet, Rob J. P. M. Scholten, Frits W. Bertelsmann, Marc C. T. F. M. de Krom, and Lex M. Bouter
JAMA. 2002;288(10):1245-1251.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT