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Handchir Mikrochir Plast Chir 2016; 48(05): 260-265
DOI: 10.1055/s-0042-112869
Review
© Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York

Factors Affecting the Outcomes of Carpal Tunnel Surgery: A Review

Faktoren, die das Ergebnis einer Karpaltunneloperation beeinflussen – eine Literaturübersicht
P. Zyluk-Gadowska
1   Department of General and Hand Surgery, Pomeranian Medical University, Szczecin, Poland
,
A. Zyluk
1   Department of General and Hand Surgery, Pomeranian Medical University, Szczecin, Poland
› Author Affiliations
Further Information

Publication History

received 25 September 2015

accepted 18 July 2016

Publication Date:
31 August 2016 (online)

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Abstract

This article presents a review of the published literature from Pubmed and Medline databases on the outcomes of carpal tunnel surgery. We attempted to ascertain the role of selected factors such as patients’ age, the duration of symptoms, the clinical and electrophysiological severity of CTS, the presence of comorbidities, and medicolegal considerations, as predictors of outcomes following carpal-tunnel release. There is no conclusive evidence that any of the numerous factors considered in this review had a significant impact on the long-term outcomes of carpal-tunnel surgery. The longer duration of the disease, the clinical and electrophysiological severity, and comorbidities, were found to be relative predictors of suboptimal outcomes, which suggests that patients might derive slightly less benefit from surgery. Only medicolegal factors – compensation claims and involvement in litigation – were found to be definitive predictors of worse outcomes after surgery.

Zusammenfassung

Ziel der vorliegenden Arbeit war es, unter Berücksichtigung der in Pubmed und Medline veröffentlichten Ergebnisse nach Eingriffen am Karpalkanal zu ermitteln, inwieweit ausgewählte Faktoren wie das Patientenalter, die Dauer der Symptome, die Ausprägung der klinischen und elektrophysiologischen Befunde, das Vorliegen von Begleiterkrankungen und medikolegale Momente die Ergebnisse beeinflussen. Letztlich konnte für keinen der zahlreichen untersuchten Faktoren ein signifikanter Einfluss auf das Langzeitergebnis nachgewiesen werden. Bestehen die Beschwerden länger, sind die klinischen und elektrophysiologischen Befunde ausgeprägter und liegen Begleiterkrankungen vor, so fallen die Ergebnisse weniger gut aus, was darauf hindeutet, dass die betroffenen Patienten etwas weniger von der Operation profitieren. Nur bei Vorliegen von medikolegalen Faktoren wie Rechtsstreit oder Schadenersatzansprüchen lässt sich definitiv ein schlechtes Ergebnis voraussagen.

Key words

carpal tunnel surgery - outcome - predictors

Schlüsselwörter

Karpaltunnelchirurgie - Ergebnisse - Vorhersagefaktoren
 

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