Minimally Invasive Open Surgical Approach and Outcomes for Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

OBJECTIVES: The most common peripheral neuropathy is carpal tunnel syndrome. The present study aims to describe our minimally invasive open surgical approach for carpal tunnel syndrome and evaluate surgical outcomes. METHODS: We included 217 patients who were operated in our clinic for carpal tunnel syndrome by minimally invasive open surgical approach. Visual Analogue Scale and Functional Outcome Scale scores were obtained preoperative, postoperative at one month and three months to determine surgical outcomes. RESULTS: The mean age of the patients was 55.4±12.8 years (32 to 69), 175 (80.6%) were women and 42 (19.4%) were men. The assessment of carpal tunnel syndrome’s etiology showed that 189 (%87.1%) of the cases were idiopathic, 19 (8.8%) had hypothyroidism, 5 (2.3%) had rheumatoid arthritis and 4 (1.8%) were due to pregnancy. The average improvement of VAS between preoperatively and late postoperatively was 5.41±1.05. The average improvement FOS was 17.44±3.06. They were statistically significant. CONCLUSION: The minimally invasive open surgical approach for carpal tunnel syndrome (an average of 1 cm skin incision) is performed with local anesthesia and successful surgical outcomes are achieved.