Most Carpal Tunnel Releases Address Moderate or Severe Median Neuropathy.

Background: The role of surgery in normal or very mild median neuropathy can be questioned given that surgery in the absence of pathophysiology may offer only nonspecific effects that can be achieved without surgery, which raises ethical concerns. It's also important to avoid misdiagnosis: given that mild median neuropathy is prevalent and generally well-accommodated, notable symptoms from mild median neuropathy can signal unhelpful thoughts and feelings of distress that are a more pressing health priority.

Methods: We identified 38 studies that categorized electrodiagnostic (EDX) measured median neuropathy severity among people being evaluated for carpal tunnel syndrome. We converted the different EDX grades used into one general grading classification. The Kruskal-Wallis test was used to compare the ratio of moderate/severe to mild/normal EDX findings between tests ordered by a surgeon or a nonoperative clinician.

Results: The median (interquartile range) ratio of moderate/severe to mild/normal EDX findings of median neuropathy at the carpal tunnel was 1.2 (0.91 to 1.8) among tests ordered by nonoperative clinicians and 3.3 (1.5 to 5.3) among tests ordered by surgeons (P = .0023). Only 4.1% of the patients who had EDX testing ordered by a surgeon had no measurable neuropathy. There were zero patients with normal EDX findings in 10 of the 17 (59%) studies in surgeon practices and in 10 of the 21 (48%) in the practices of nonoperative clinicians.

Conclusions: The observation that in case series documenting EDX severities of median neuropathy, surgeons are mostly treating and operating on moderate to severe pathophysiology, emphasizes that while mild median neuropathy is highly prevalent it is uncommonly considered for surgery.

Level of evidence: Level II, Prognostic study.