Efficacy of splinting and oral steroids in the treatment of carpal tunnel syndrome: a prospective randomized clinical and electrophysiological study.
Neurol India
;
2006 Sep; 54(3): 286-90
Article
in English
| IMSEAR
| ID: sea-120642
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE:
To study the efficacy of splinting and oral steroids in the management of carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS).DESIGN:
Prospective, randomized, open-label, clinical and electrophysiological study with 3-month follow-up. MATERIALS ANDMETHODS:
Forty patients with CTS were randomly divided into splint group (N-20), wearing splint in neutral position for 4 weeks; and steroid group (N-20), who received oral prednisolone 20 mg/day for 2 weeks followed by 10 mg/day for 2 weeks. Clinical and electrophysiological evaluations were done at baseline and at 1-month and 3-month follow-up. Independent 't' test and paired 't' test were used for statistical analysis. OUTCOMEMEASURES:
Primary outcome measure was the symptom severity score and functional status score. Secondary outcome measures were median nerve sensory and motor distal latency and conduction velocity.RESULTS:
At the end of 3 months, statistically significant improvement was seen in symptom severity score and functional status score in both groups (P<0.001). Median nerve sensory distal latency and conduction velocity also improved significantly in both the groups at 3 months. Improvement in motor distal latency was significant (P=0.001) at 3 months in steroid group, while insignificant improvement (P=0.139) was observed in splint group. On comparing the clinical and electrophysiological improvement between the two groups, except for the functional status score, there was no significant difference at 3-month follow-up. Improvement in functional status score was significantly more in steroid group (P=0.03).CONCLUSION:
There was significant improvement in both groups, clinically as well as electrophysiologically, at 3 months. On comparing the efficacy of the two treatment methods, except for the functional status score, there was no significant difference between the two groups.
Full text:
Available
Index:
IMSEAR (South-East Asia)
Main subject:
Reaction Time
/
Splints
/
Time Factors
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
/
Drug Administration Schedule
/
Prednisolone
/
Carpal Tunnel Syndrome
/
Administration, Oral
Type of study:
Controlled clinical trial
/
Observational study
/
Prognostic study
Language:
English
Journal:
Neurol India
Year:
2006
Type:
Article
Similar
MEDLINE
...
LILACS
LIS