Anterior Subcutaneous Ulnar Nerve Transposition for Cubital Tunnel Syndrome

Purpose: To evaluate the clinical results of anterior subcutaneous ulnar nerve transposition operation and the factors that influence the results for cubital tunnel syndrome. Materials and Methods:Seventeen cases of cubital tunnel syndrome were treated by anterior subcutaneous transposition between March 2001 and December 2003.The mean age was 56 years and mean follow up period was 20.4 months.All patients were reviewed retrospectively.The preoperative evaluation was done by Dellon's classification and the clinical results were evaluated by Messina's classification.We analyzed the effect of the operation and the relations between the results and the preoperative factors, for example, duration of symptom, age, cause of illness, present of association with diabetes mellitus or preoperative flexion contracture of the elbow were analyzed.Results: The results according to Messina's classification were 4 cases of excellent, 9 cases of good, 3 cases of fair, and 1 case of poor.The preoperative factors like duration of symptom, age, cause of illness and flexion contracture of the elbow didn't show any statistical difference in the result of operation, but the cases which have diabetes mellitus were unsatisfactory with statistical difference (p=0.018).C o n c l u s i o n: Anterior subcutaneous ulnar nerve transposition is relatively easy and good operative method in cubital tunnel syndrome.