Systemic Causes of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

At operation, most patients with carpal tunnel syndrome show chronic tenosynovitis of unknown cause. Yet the syndrome develops in about 11 percent of rheumatoid arthritis patients, and rarely gout, myxedema, multiple myeloma, pregnancy and acromegaly will produce it. In the last 10 years at the Lahey Clinic, 89 patients have been operated on because of the syndrome, and more than 90 percent have benefited.