Joints
Nonneoplastic disease
Carpal tunnel syndrome
Copyright: 2002-2019, PathologyOutlines.com, Inc.
PubMed search: Joints carpal tunnel syndrome [title]
Nonneoplastic disease
Carpal tunnel syndrome
Author: Vijay Shankar, M.D.
Topic Completed: 1 December 2012
Minor changes: 26 September 2019
Copyright: 2002-2019, PathologyOutlines.com, Inc.
PubMed search: Joints carpal tunnel syndrome [title]
Table of Contents
Definition / general | Clinical features | Case reports | Treatment | Clinical images | Gross description | Gross images | Microscopic (histologic) descriptionCite this page: Shankar V. Carpal tunnel syndrome. PathologyOutlines.com website. http://www.pathologyoutlines.com/topic/jointscarpaltunnel.html. Accessed May 24th, 2020.
Definition / general
- Carpal tunnel: space between flexor retinaculum (transverse carpal ligament) and carpal bones, through which median nerve travels
- Syndrome is an entrapment neuropathy
- Symptoms due to compression of median nerve by trauma, masses within canal (hemangioma, lipoma, ganglia), rheumatoid arthritis, amyloidosis
Clinical features
- Pain, often accompanied by parasthesia in distribution of median nerve
- Rarely wasting of thenar muscles
Case reports
- 48 year old man with giant lipoma causing carpal tunnel syndrome (Pan Afr Med J 2011;9:29)
- 64 year old woman with periarticular calcification causing acute carpal tunnel syndrome (J Orthop Surg (Hong Kong) 2009;17:234)
Treatment
- Surgical; division of transverse carpal ligament
Clinical images
Images hosted on other servers:
Untreated
Lesion with incision marking
Giant lipoma stretching median nerve
2 years follow up
Gross description
- Nerve appears constricted and pale
Gross images
Images hosted on other servers:
Resected giant lipoma
Microscopic (histologic) description
- Transverse carpal ligament shows nonspecific fibrosis
