Multiperspective assessment of carpal tunnel syndrome: a multicenter study. Italian CTS Study Group.

Abstract

To assess the clinical and neurophysiologic dissociation often observed in clinical practice, and to improve patient evaluation for diagnosis of carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS). The Italian CTS Study Group studied 1,123 idiopathic CTS hands with multiple measurements-clinical, neurophysiologic, and patient-oriented-of CTS. Clinical and neurophysiologic relationships were very strong when the clinical picture was evaluated by the hand functional measurements, with an exponential increase in functional impairment as the classification of neurophysiologic severity progressed. Conversely, symptoms and pain did not increase as the classification of neurophysiologic severity progressed: 1) A large part of the CTS population complained of severe symptoms, although minimal functional impairment and minimal or no electrophysiologic abnormalities were observed; and 2) symptoms improved in the patients with more severe neurophysiologic and clinical examination scenarios. Multiperspective and multimeasurement assessment, even when using a validated patient-oriented tool, provided interesting information that confirmed and clarified the clinical neurophysiologic dissociation often observed in carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) patients. Furthermore, CTS appeared to be an ideal model for evaluating the importance of patient-oriented measurement.