Carpal tunnel release with a new mini-incision approach versus a conventional approach, a retrospective cohort study.

PURPOSE: We have make use of a new method to perform carpal tunnel release (CTR) through a 1.5-2.0 cm long incision The aim of this study is to introduce this method and to compare the effectiveness and safety of this approach to the conventional one.

METHODS: We included consecutive patients diagnosed with primary carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) who had CTR from January 2015 to September 2016. A total of 85 patients were included in our study. Among them, 42 patients with mini-incision approach were enrolled in group A, and the other 43 patients with conventional approach were enrolled in group B. Objective tests and subjective evaluations were performed to compare the outcomes of mini-incision approach with the conventional approach. Postoperative complications after the two approaches were also compared.

RESULTS: At the 12-months follow-up, all patients in both groups got recovery. We found no significant differences between the two groups in postoperative pinch strength, grip strength, 2-point discrimination (2-PD), visual analogue scale (VAS) score, Levine score and the Disabilities of the Arm, Shoulder and Hand (DASH) score (P > 0.05). However, at the one-month follow-up, the percentage of patients with wound pain in group A was significantly lower than that in group B (0.05% vs. 0.23%, P = 0.03). At the 12 months follow-up, the number of patients with persistent wound pain and pillar pain in group B were 2 (4.7%) and 3 (7.0%) respectively, while no patients showed wound pain and pillar pain in group A.

CONCLUSION: Patients with mini-incision approach have satisfactory surgical outcomes, low postoperative complications, and good appearance.