Direct and Indirect Method of Sonographic Measurements of the Median Nerve in Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

Lydia Arfianti

2017

Abstract

Objective: Carpal Tunnel Syndrome (CTS) is one of the most common problems in the practice of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. Sonography examination has been widely used as a non-invasive tool to support diagnosis of CTS. One of the diagnostic criteria is an increase in the median nerve cross-sectional area (CSA), that can be measured using direct and indirect methods. The direct method has higher diagnostic accuracy, but it may vary in different populations. This is the first consecutive study to evaluate the correlation of the direct and indirect sonographic methods to measure the median nerve CSA in clinically suspected CTS, performed by physiatrists in Indonesia. Methods: Sixteen consecutive wrists with clinically suspected CTS, that fulfilled the inclusion criteria between July to September 2014, were chosen for this study. The sonographic measurements were performed by a single physiatrist, trained in musculoskeletal ultrasound. The outcome measurement was median nerve CSA using 2 methods: direct (tracing), and indirect method. Results: All 16 median nerve CSAs measured in this study were larger than the cut-off for diagnosis of CTS. The mean median nerve CSA was 15.68 ± 3.45 mm2 with the direct method, and 14.30 ± 2.41 mm2 with the indirect method. There were no significant differences in measured CSA between the two methods (p = 0.05). Both methods showed significant correlation analyzed with Pearson correlation (r = 0.663, p = 0.005). Conclusion: The result suggests that the direct and indirect methods of sonographic measurement can be used to measure the median nerve CSA in clinically suspected CTS.

Paper Citation

in Harvard Style

Arfianti L. (2017). Direct and Indirect Method of Sonographic Measurements of the Median Nerve in Carpal Tunnel Syndrome.In Proceedings of the International Meeting on Regenerative Medicine - Volume 1: IMRM, ISBN 978-989-758-334-6, pages 71-75. DOI: 10.5220/0007315900710075

in Bibtex Style

@conference{imrm17,
author={Lydia Arfianti},
title={Direct and Indirect Method of Sonographic Measurements of the Median Nerve in Carpal Tunnel Syndrome},
booktitle={Proceedings of the International Meeting on Regenerative Medicine - Volume 1: IMRM,},
year={2017},
pages={71-75},
publisher={SciTePress},
organization={INSTICC},
doi={10.5220/0007315900710075},
isbn={978-989-758-334-6},
}

in EndNote Style

TY - CONF

JO - Proceedings of the International Meeting on Regenerative Medicine - Volume 1: IMRM,
TI - Direct and Indirect Method of Sonographic Measurements of the Median Nerve in Carpal Tunnel Syndrome
SN - 978-989-758-334-6
AU - Arfianti L.
PY - 2017
SP - 71
EP - 75
DO - 10.5220/0007315900710075