Surgical therapy for entrapment neuropathy

Entrapment neuropathy is not uncommon, and surgical treatment is followed by favorite result. Therefore, to obtain an accurate diagnosis based on precise knowledge of the peripheral nervous system is very important. The most popular and useful symptoms and signs of the entrapment neuropathy is paresthesia, dysesthesia and Tinel's like sign at the lesion site. Nerve conduction study is also valuable for the accurate diagnosis. For the last 30 years, the author operated on 1,399 lesions of entrapment neuropathy. They consist of 877 carpal tunnel syndrome (63%), 284 tarsal tunnel syndrome (20%), 135 ulnar neuropathy at the elbow (10%), 53 piriformis syndrome (4%), 15 thoracic outlet syndrome (1%), and others. From the pathophysiological point to view, except for the carpal tunnel syndrome, several locations and factors come into play producing the entrapment of the nerve. The author would like to stress that the entrapment neuropathy is not severe disease, though, it strongly insult the patient's quality of life.