[Unusual complications of median nerve neurolysis]

Two cases of acute post-operative compression of the ulnar nerve after, nerve release of the median nerve in the wrist are reported. The ulnar, nerve was free of any lesion on the preoperative clinical or electrical examination, at the elbow or the wrist. Stenosis of this nerve occurred during the month following the median nerve release as confirmed by EMG. The compression was treated by ulnar nerve release. Such a complication, representing 0.2% in a series of 982 cases of carpal tunnel syndrome, has never been mentioned in the literature. The authors suggest an etiopathogenic hypothesis which guides a new surgical approach.