Diabetics with Carpal Tunnel Syndrome (CTS) can benefit from surgery, according to a study recnelty presented at the annual meeting of the American Association of Electrodiagnostic Medicine in Savannah, Georgia.
Some in the medical community have questioned whether diabetics who undergo surgery for CTS release actually improve. Surgery is sometimes recommended to remove or release compression of the median nerve, the nerve that passes from the forearm to the palm.
Hee-Kyu Kwon, M.D, of Korea University Hospital in Seoul, and her colleagues compared the outcomes of CTS release surgery in diabetic and non-diabetic patients.
The groups were evaluated using several electrodiagnostic tests. Physicians use electrodiagnostic procedures to diagnose problems created when the electrical signals within nerves and muscles become weakened or stop altogether.
No meaningful difference in outcomes between the two groups was found.
Kwon and her colleagues concluded that physicians should consider surgery as a viable treatment for diabetic patients with symptomatic CTS.
