Carpal tunnel syndrome. The contribution of ultrasonography

Carpal tunnel syndrome is the most frequent mononeuropathy. Its incidence is huge and the ensuing community health problems are therefore the cause of much concern. Such a situation has made it necessary to develop a key point in the management of the illness, that is, to find flexible, sensitive, specific and cost-effective diagnostic procedures. Today tools of proven worth are now available, especially electrophysiology, and quite recently we also have ultrasonography. Both of these techniques allow us to confirm and characterise neuropathies due to entrapment and indeed a large number of papers dealing with ultrasound imaging have been published in the literature over the last few years. It therefore comes as no surprise that many renowned authors have acknowledged the usefulness of this technique. Here, we review the pathophysiological and diagnostic aspects of carpal tunnel syndrome, with greater emphasis on how ultrasonography has contributed to the morphological evaluation of the entrapped nerve. This method has proved itself to have significant advantages not only due to its being readily available, inexpensive, fast and painless, but also, and above all, because of its high capacity to detect neural and perineural alterations. A critical review of the literature supports this thesis and shows its incorporation into routine daily evaluation to be highly recommendable.