Carpal Tunnel Syndrome
Alexander Y. Shin M.D. is an orthopedic surgeon at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN. He talks about ultrasound-guided intervention for carpal tunnel release and why he likes the procedure. Carpal tunnel syndrome is when the median nerve is compressed as it passes through the carpal tunnel. The carpal tunnel is an opening in your wrist that is formed by the carpal bones on the bottom of the wrist and the transverse carpal ligament across the top of the wrist. The median nerve provides sensory and motor functions to the thumb and 3 middle fingers. If it gets compressed or irritated, you may have symptoms.
Mayo Clinic is one of the few orthopedic surgery centers that offer ultrasound-guided intervention for carpal tunnel release. The minimally invasive treatment, which uses a thread to dissect the transverse carpal ligament, is done under local anesthesia.
“The approach is designed to minimize soft tissue dissection and injury,” says Dr. Shin. “Patients recover in about two weeks instead of the four to six weeks needed after open surgery.”
Dr. Shin notes that one of his patients had the incisionless procedure to treat carpal tunnel syndrome so severe that the pain consistently woke him at night. The patient was unable to take the weeks off work that are generally needed after open surgery. “We did the procedure, and he was back at work the next day,” Dr. Shin says. “This is an innovative technique that is changing patients’ lives.”
The incisionless technique — known as thread ultrasound-guided carpal tunnel release — is performed by Dr. Shin and Jeffrey S. Brault, D.O. a physical medicine and rehabilitation specialist at the Rochester campus of Mayo Clinic.
I have carpal tunnel release and I would much rather have this procedure.