Saba Zaidi, Shafaq Abbas.
Intra-Carpal Tunnel Steroid Injections are Superior to Nsaids in Management of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome.
Pak J Neurological Sci Jan ;16(1):21-5.

BACKGROUND: Carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) is caused by the compression of median nerve in carpal tunnel. Carpal bones make the floor of the carpal tunnel and the transverse carpal ligament forms the roof. Components include median nerve and the flexor tendons. The pain may be localized to the wrist or may radiate to forearm, arm or rarely shoulder. Effectiveness of treatment by intracarpal corticosteroid injection in comparison with NSAID has never been investigated. The objective of this study was to determine if corticosteroid injections for carpal tunnel syndrome are effective compared to NSAID. METHODS: In this study 46 participants with a clinical diagnosis of CTS were recruited. Participants were randomly assigned treatment group A (intra carpal tunnel steroid injection) and B (NSAID) by coin flipping method. Main outcomes, mean score of the Symptom Severity Scale (SSS) of the Boston carpal tunnel questionnaire, subjective improvement during follow-up were collected. Duration of follow-up was 3 months. RESULTS: The median duration of symptoms was 8 months in NSAID group and 7 months in Steroid group post treatment. Steroid group showed better direct treatment response (P=0.001) and perceived improvement (P=0.001) than the NSAID group in the outcomes. Symptom severity score improved significantly after steroid treatment compared to NSAID group, from (2.79 to 1.01) in steroid group versus (2.58 to 2.45) in NSAID group CONCLUSION: Intracarpal tunnel steroids injection was more effective as compared to NSAID in management of carpal tunnel syndrome.

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