Faran Khan, Khawar Awais Butt, Faisal Nazeer Hussain.
Treatment of dorsal carpal ganglia a comparative study between surgical excision and aspiration followed by steroid injection.
J Pak Orthop Assoc Jan ;23(1):07-12.

Objective: To compare the results of two techniques for treatment of Carpal ganglion cyst. Aspiration of the Dorsal Carpal Ganglion combined with intra-lesional Methyl Prednisolone Acetate injection technique or surgical excision. Place and Duration of Study: Rawalpindi Medical College, DHQ Hospital, Rawalpindi from 2007-2010 Study Design: Comparative Study Patients and Methods: This study has been done on 100 patients dividing them into two groups. One group was treated with aspiration followed by Methyl-prednisolone injection while the other group was treated by surgical excision under local anesthesia. Both were followed up for six months and recurrences were recorded. Results: Group A was treated with surgical excision (14 males and 36 females) while group B was treated with aspiration followed by intralesional steroid injection (18 males and 32 females). In group A, only one patient had recurrence (2.00%) with 98.00% successful treatment. In group B, 28 patients had recurrence (56.00%) with 44.00% successful treatment. The results of the study clearly favor surgical excision over aspiration technique. No complications were noted. The resultant scaring after surgery and the invasive nature of the treatment modality seem to be the only barriers for surgical excision to be recommended to every patient. Conclusion: As far as recurrences are concerned surgical excision seems to be a superior technique when compared to aspiration followed by intra-lesional steroid injections for the treatment of dorsal carpal ganglia.

PakMediNet -Pakistan's largest Database of Pakistani Medical Journals - http://www.pakmedinet.com