Surgical Techniques and Return to Work Following Carpal Tunnel Release: a Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

Overview

Journal J Occup Rehabil

Publisher Springer

Specialties Occupational Medicine
Rehabilitation Medicine

Date 2011 Apr 30

PMID 21528400

Citations 14

Authors

Kaveh A Sanati

Massoud Mansouri

Duncan Macdonald

Shahab Ghafghazi

Ewan MacDonald

Ghasem Yadegarfar

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Introduction: This systematic review was conducted to evaluate return to work (RTW) following minimally invasive carpal tunnel surgery versus open carpal tunnel release. This study also assesses how RTW as an outcome measure was examined in previous randomized controlled trials (RCTs).

Methods: The bibliographic databases Medline, AMED and CINAHL were systematically searched. We found 15 relevant RCTs. Meta-analysis was possible only for four studies.

Results: The result indicates that minimally invasive surgery offers earlier return to work compared to open carpal tunnel release (mean difference -7.2 days; 95% CI -10 to -4.4 days). There were remarkable inconsistencies in how return to work as an outcome measure was examined in different RCTs.

Conclusions: Calculating standardised mean difference in future RCTs would allow future reviews to be more inclusive of the evidence. The authors suggest more consistent approach for evaluating work-related features in future studies. We recommend that new fit note categories introduced by UK Department of Work and Pension (unfit for all work/return to modified work or work adaptations/return to normal work) would be used to identify different levels of return to work.

Citing Articles

Anatomic Variation of the Hamate Hook as a Potential Risk in Endoscopic Carpal Tunnel Release.

Saito K, Okada M, Ishiko M, Nakamura H J Hand Surg Glob Online. 2024; 6(3):293-298.

PMID: 38817749 PMC: 11133849. DOI: 10.1016/j.jhsg.2023.12.010.

Optimizing Recovery After Carpal Tunnel Syndrome Release Surgery: The Role of Counseling in Pain Management and Perioperative Functional Enhancement.

Dawod M, Alswerki M, Al Jaar S, Keilani D, Keilani L, Alani M J Multidiscip Healthc. 2024; 17:971-980.

PMID: 38465327 PMC: 10921890. DOI: 10.2147/JMDH.S451008.

Update on surgical procedures for carpal tunnel syndrome: What is the current evidence and practice? What are the future research directions?.

Pace V, Marzano F, Placella G World J Orthop. 2023; 14(1):6-12.

PMID: 36686281 PMC: 9850791. DOI: 10.5312/wjo.v14.i1.6.

Quality analysis of prior systematic reviews of carpal tunnel syndrome: an overview of the literature.

Cavalcante M, Moraes V, Oses G, Nakachima L, Belloti J Sao Paulo Med J. 2022; 141(5):e20211020.

PMID: 36541951 PMC: 10065117. DOI: 10.1590/1516-3180.2021.1020.R2.10102022.

Two-port Endoscopic Surgery for Carpal Tunnel Syndrome - A Prospective Cohort Study.

Nguyen T, Duong K, Tran S, Dang K, Ly H, Nguyen B Malays Orthop J. 2022; 16(2):55-62.

PMID: 35992988 PMC: 9388800. DOI: 10.5704/MOJ.2207.007.

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