Use of ultrasonography in monitoring work-related carpal tunnel syndrome: A case report

Abstract

Carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) is a syndrome whose diagnosis is well established. One cause could be occupational factors, while others have no relation to work or the work environment. We present in this article a case report regarding a worker affected by CTS, which is of interest concerning the sensitivity of ultrasonography and electroneurography, applied as diagnostic methods, related in our protocol to the variations in occupational exposures. The case reports an agricultural worker, whose tasks required repetitive and high frequency movements of the hand‐arm. Diagnosis of CTS used ultrasonography and electroneurography techniques. In our opinion, the clinical evolution of CTS encompasses three “work‐related” phases (preclinical phase; phase of nerve compression; phase of irreversible damage). Ultrasonography provides greater information about the evolution of CTS, as well as other cumulative trauma disorders, and is able to discern tendinitis of flexors causing a compression on the median nerve in the carpal tunnel. Am. J. Ind. Med. 33:560–564, 1998.