Pregnancy-related carpal tunnel syndrome; non-invasive early diagnosis and postpartum evaluation

Abstract

The diagnosis of pregnancy-related carpal tunnel syndrome (PRCTS) was made with noninvasive methods and evaluated the effect of PRCTS on quality of life, its treatment and prognosis. Third-trimester pregnant women between the ages of 18-45 and diagnosed with PRCTS were included. For diagnosis; the presence of pain, positive motor and sensory tests, Carpal Tunnel Symptoms Scale-6 (CTS-6), and Boston Carpal Tunnel Questionnaire (BCTQ) were evaluated. The criteria used to determine improvement were the regression of complaints and symptoms based on a VAS score of 0 and a CTS-6 score of less than 5. According to these criteria, patients whose complaints regressed in the postpartum eighth week were called group A, whose complaints regressed in the postpartum sixth month were called group B, and women who still did not meet the criteria were called group C. The study included 102 wrists of 94 women. When the type of delivery, gestational age at birth, gravida, and parity were compared according to the continuity of complaints and symptoms, no differences were found. When the first trimester body mass index (BMI) measurements were compared between groups A and B, it was observed that group B had higher first trimester BMI values; this difference was statistically significant. The mean age was 29.2 years in group A, was 32.6 years in group B and the difference was significant. Conclusions: We recommend that pregnant women over 30 years old with a high BMI should be screened for PRCTS using non-invasive diagnostic tools, CTS-6, and VAS.