Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 4, 2026

Screening of Axonal Degeneration in Carpal Tunnel Syndrome Using Ultrasonography and Nerve Conduction Studies
Published on: January 11, 2019
Complications related to carpal tunnel release
Richard M Braun1, Mark Rechnic, Elizabeth Fowler
1Medical Corporation, 770 Washington St., Suite 301, San Diego, CA 92103, USA. rbraun@handsrus.com
Abstract:
Complications of operative carpal tunnel release continue to occur in the clinical practice of hand surgery. Anatomic localization of nerve injury has been reviewed in the area of the palmar cutaneous nerve, the median motor branch, and in the combined sensory/motor median nerve itself. Diagnosis and appropriate treatment plans have been reviewed to facilitate early appropriate treatment which usually diminishes disability. General complications have also been discussed including recurrent scar formation which is probably the most commonly encountered complication following carpal tunnel release. Possible neurovascular complications involving the development of reflex sympathetic dystrophy have received some attention in this presentation in order to alert the clinical surgeon to the possibility of this entity providing further disability to an already injured median nerve.
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