Based on the linked source; automatically prepared and checked against the original report.
Study design
This prospective, cross-sectional study used registry data from Thai wheelchair users with spinal cord injury receiving outpatient rehabilitation at a tertiary university hospital. Blinded examiners performed ultrasound measurements of median nerve cross-sectional area and electrodiagnostic testing as the reference standard. The analysis included 67 participants and 126 wrists.
Prevalence and ultrasound findings
Carpal tunnel syndrome was identified in 25 participants, representing 37.3% of the sample, and in 42 wrists, or 33.3% of those analyzed. Mean median nerve cross-sectional area was larger in wrists with electrodiagnostically confirmed syndrome than in those without it: 14.4±4.4 versus 10.7±3.3 mm², respectively. The difference was statistically significant.
Cutoff performance
Overall diagnostic discrimination was moderate, with an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of 0.76 and a 95% confidence interval of 0.67 to 0.84. A 10 mm² cutoff produced 90.5% sensitivity and 45.2% specificity, while a 15 mm² cutoff produced 33.3% sensitivity and 91.7% specificity. Age, sex, and body mass index did not affect performance. The wrist-to-forearm ratio performed comparably, but not better, than cross-sectional area. The authors concluded that lower cutoffs favor sensitivity and higher cutoffs favor specificity.
