"This is the first randomized controlled clinical trial comparing the two most common therapies for CTS," notes one of its authors, Dr. Domingo Ly-Pen. "Our findings suggest that both local steroid injections and surgical decompression are highly effective in alleviating the symptoms of primary CTS at 12 months of follow-up. Nevertheless, local injection seems superior to surgery in the short term."

Also notably, more patients whose wrists were randomly assigned to surgery rejected the treatment (11 wrists) than did those whose wrists were assigned to injection (1 wrist). "This finding coincides with our daily clinical practice," Dr. Ly-Pen observes, "in which patients usually prefer conservative therapies." Surgery may still be the best course in severe cases of CTS, for avoiding loss of sensation and improving function. This study, however, has important implications for the effective, affordable, early treatment of carpal tunnel syndrome, an unfortunately common condition of our times.

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Contact: Amy Molnar
amolnar@wiley.com
John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
3-Feb-2005