Electromyography and ultrasound studies in the diagnostics of carpal tunnel syndrome

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Abstract

Carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) is a clinical condition with sensory and motor manifestations related to median nerve (MN) compression at the wrist level. The goal of this study was tocompare two diagnostics methods, electromyography (EMG) and ultrasound (US) examination, in establishing the most reliable and precise diagnostic approach to CTS. We examined 67 patients with clinical diagnosis of CTS and a control group of 42 healthy volunteers. For EMG and US, sensitivity and specificity parameters were calculated, and grading of the severity of MN injury was assessed with these technologies. The sensitivity and specificity for EMG was 93% and 97%, and for US, 85% and 73%, respectively. The severity grades of MN injury defined by EMG and US did not correspond to each other. According to our data, EMG has higher sensitivity compared to US in the diagnosis of CTS. EMG also allows estimating quantitatively the severity of MN injury, while US method shows predominantly some qualitative estimation of MN injury in CTS.

About the authors

S. S. Nikitin

Institute of General Pathology and Pathophysiology RAMS

Author for correspondence.
Email: nikitin-s@bk.ru
Russian Federation, Moscow

A. A. Maslak

Medical Center of Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Email: nikitin-s@bk.ru
Russian Federation, Moscow

A. L. Kurenkov

Research Center of Children’s Health RAMS

Email: nikitin-s@bk.ru
Russian Federation, Moscow

N. G. Savitskaya

Research Center of Neurology RAMS

Email: nikitin-s@bk.ru
Russian Federation, Moscow

S. G. Pripisnova

Central Institute of Traumatology and Orthopaedy, Ministry of Health

Email: nikitin-s@bk.ru
Russian Federation, Moscow

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Copyright (c) 2013 Nikitin S.S., Maslak A.A., Kurenkov A.L., Savitskaya N.G., Pripisnova S.G.

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