Sono-Elastography in evaluation of the median nerve in carpal tunnel syndrome patients

Abstract Background Carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) is the most common nerve entrapment syndrome. It is caused by compression of the median nerve as it passes through the carpal tunnel in the wrist. The diagnosis of CTS is based on a combination of characteristic symptoms and electrophysiologic abnormalities. Electrodiagnostic testing (EDT) is uncomfortable for patients, time consuming and expensive. Objective To evaluate the role of greyscale and strain elastography ultrasound imaging in diagnosing patients with CTS and controls in comparison with nerve conductive studies. Patients and Methods Type of Study: Descriptive, prospective study. Study Setting: The study will be conducted at Ain Shams University Hospitals, Radiodiagnosis department. Study Period: 6 months. Study Population: Patients with carpal tunnel syndrome diagnosed clinically and underwent nerve conduction velocity study. Results In this study 7 wrists were diagnosed with mild CTS, 5 wrists demonstrated moderate CT, whereas only 3 wrists revealed severe CTS. The mean CSA would have increased if the number of cases with severe CTS had been higher. CSA of the median nerve has been reported to increase with the severity of entrapment. The cut off point of the average CSA to differentiate between cases and controls was found > 8 with sensitivity of 93.33%, specificity of 80% and area under curve (AUC) of 91.3% while the best cut off point for Elasto score was found > 1 with sensitivity of 86.6%, specificity of 80% and area under curve (AUC) of 93.3%. Conclusion We concluded that sonoelastography is a sensitive tool for prediction of CTS and it’s severity in correlation to NCV.