Bilateral carpal tunnel syndrome – A review

Abstract

Carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) is the most common upper extremity compressive neuropathy, with a prevalence of 3%–5% in the general population, and 6% in the group of females over the age of 40. It occurs about five times more common in females, with 2 peaks observed, in the 6th and 8th decades of life. Bilateral manifestation is more common than unilateral (60%), but significantly more often begins or is more strongly expressed in the dominant hand. Possible anatomical abnormalities underlying the development of CTS account for about 5% of cases. More and more scientific data confirm the significant role of central nervous system processes (including central sensitization) in the development of carpal tunnel syndrome, and changes in central nervous system body somatotopic representation, resulting from prolonged median nerve pathology, are described in consistence with the brain plasticity concept. This central involvement of bilateral CTS may explain that a proportion of patients following surgery for one hand experience improvement also in the non-operated hand.