Follow-up after carpal tunnel decompression - general practitioner surgery or hand clinic? A randomized prospective...

We prospectively randomized 100 patients following carpal tunnel decompression who were having a 2-week postoperative assessment and removal of stitches to either their local general practitioner (GP) or the hospital outpatient department. All patients were seen at hospital 6 weeks postoperatively for a final assessment. The waiting time for assessment and suture removal was shorter at the GP surgery than in the outpatient department (mean 13 min and 28 min respectively) but significantly more patients were diagnosed as having wound infections (14% and 0% respectively); most were given antibiotics, perhaps unnecessarily.