Short term results of local steroid injection in carpal tunnel syndrome

Abstract

The aim of this study was to verify the effects of local steroid treatment on both the clinical symptoms and motor and sensory conduction of the median nerve. Fifteen patients (20 nerves) with clinical and electrophysiological evidence of carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) were included in the study. In order to assess the efficacy of local steroid therapy, clinical and electrophysiological findings were evaluated at regular intervals: before therapy, 3 weeks and 3 months after the injection. A student's t-test for paired observations was applied to evaluate clinical and electrophysiological data. At follow-up, the sensory nerve conduction velocities, distal sensory latencies and amplitudes of the median nerve showed a significant improvement trend with respect to the baseline values (p