Comparison of Sonographic Evaluation of the Median Nerve and Fourth Flexor Tendon Between Asymptomatic Subjects With and Without Diabetes

Abstract

Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a common metabolic disease associated with carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) and tendinopathy. This study aims to assess the ultrasonographic (US) parameters of the flexor tendon and median nerve in asymptomatic subjects with diabetes in comparison with controls without diabetes. 22 DM and 22 non-DM subjects without any symptoms or manipulations in non-dominant hands and wrists were assessed. The ultrasound evaluation of the length, width, cross-sectional area and circumference of forth flexor tendon and the median nerve was performed in the two groups. There was no statistically significant difference of age (P = 0.473) , gender (P = 0.364) , wrist circumferences (P = 0.1921) between the two groups. This study showed no significant difference between the two groups in the median nerve length (P = 0.35), width (P = 0.17), cross-sectional circumference (P = 0.23) and cross-sectional area (P = 0.16). Also, comparing of the sonographic data of the fourth flexor tendon between the two groups presented no significant difference in the length (P = 0.68), width (P = 0.80), cross-sectional circumference (P = 0.70) and cross-sectional area (P = 0.80). In conclusion, our data showed that sonographic values of the median nerve and fourth flexor tendon in asymptomatic subjects with DM did not significantly differ with non-diabetics. These findings demonstrate that still more case studies and more evaluations are required to validate the applicability of ultrasonography in the prediction of carpal tunnel syndrome and tendinopathy in diabetic patients.