• Jin Young Lee, Yongbum Park, Ki Deok Park, Ju Kang Lee, and Oh Kyung Lim.
• From the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine (JYL, KDP, JKL, OKL), Gachon University, Gil Medical Center, Incheon; and Department of Rehabilitation Medicine (YP), Sanggye Paik Hospital, Inje University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
• Medicine (Baltimore). 2014 Dec 1; 93 (29): e350.

AbstractThe objective of this study is to evaluate the degree of symptom improvement and the change of electrophysiological and ultrasonographic findings after sonographically guided local steroid injection using an in-plane ulnar approach in carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS). Seventy-five cases of 44 patients diagnosed with CTS were included and evaluated at baseline and at 4 and 12 weeks after injection. All patients received injection with 40 mg of triamcinolone mixed with 1 mL of 1% lidocaine into the carpal tunnel using an in-plane Ultrasound (US)-guided ulnar approach, out-plane US-guided approach, and blind injection. For clinical evaluation, we used the Boston Carpal Tunnel Questionnaire (BCTQ) and electrophysiological tests. The ultrasonographic findings were also evaluated with regard to cross-sectional area and the flattening ratio of the median nerve. Subjective symptoms measured by BCTQ and median nerve conduction parameters showed significant improvement at 4 weeks in the in-plane ulnar approach group compared with the out-plane ulnar approach and blind injection. This improvement was still observed at 12 weeks. The flattening ratio and cross-sectional area of the median nerve showed a more significant decrease with the in-plane ulnar approach than with the out-plane ulnar approach and blind injection (P < 0.05). US-guided local steroid injection using an in-plane ulnar approach in the CTS may be more effective than out-plane or blind injection.

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