The Impact of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome on Ulnar Nerve: An Electro-ClinicalStudy

Introduction: The paresthesias’ spread to whole hand in carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) raises the hypothesis of ulnar nerve involvement. We performed this study to verify this hypothesis.Methods: We analyzed electro-clinical data of 304 patients with suspected idiopathic CTS to investigate correlations between nerve conduction study (NCS) parameters (amplitude of sensory potential (ASP), sensory conduction velocity (SCV) and motor distal latency (MDL)) of ulnar (u) and median (m) nerves, and between ulnar parameters and paresthesias’ topography.Results: A positive correlation between ASPu and ASPm (r= 0.13, pu003c0.05), and significant difference of ulnar parameters averages between affected and healthy hands were highlighted. Ulnar parameters averages were different according to paresthesias’ topography (median territory versus whole hand), but not statistically significant.Discussion: Our results support the hypothesis of CTS impact on ulnar nerve at the wrist, which has major implications not only to understand physiopathology and symptoms, but also for therapeutic management.