The comparison between ultrasonography and electrodiagnosis value in diagnosing carpal tunnel syndrome

Background: Carpal tunnel syndrome (CTU) is the most common neuropathy in the body and one of the most important causes of occupational disability. The aim of the present study was to compare the diagnostic power of Doppler sonography and Gray Scale in diagnosing CTS and their comparison with nerve conduction studies (NCV).

Methods: In this analytical study, diagnostic value of Doppler and Gray Scale on the 133 patients was compared and NCV considered as the gold standard. The patientswith pain or upper extremity paresthesia were identified by an orthoped. First of all nerve conduction velocity of patients was performed and the sonographer, unaware of the NCV, performed Gray scale and Doppler ultrasounography. Indices of sensitivity, specificity and accuracy of these tests were used to calculate the best cross-diagnostic ROC curve.

Results: 50 patients with CTS and 83 non CTU patients were surveied. Of these patients, 42 patients (6/31%) had positive Dopplerand and 30 (6/22%) had Gray scale. Sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy of Gray scale sonography were 58, 99 and 83 percent and those of Doppler were 80, 97 and 91%, respectively.  The median nerve cross-border diagnostic was estimated to be 11.15 mm².

Conclusion: Gray scale and Doppler ultrasounography can be used to diagnose carpal tunnel syndrome. Sensitivity of Doppler ultrasound in the early stages of disease is higher than Gray scale but none of these methods can replaced be NCV.