Innovative Quantitative Assessment of Hand Function in Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

Autor: Susanna Alloisio, Ciro Mennella, Federica Viti, Antonio Novellino, Stefano Tognon
Rok vydání: 2022
Předmět:
Zdroj: HAND. 18:77S-83S
ISSN: 1558-9455
1558-9447
DOI: 10.1177/15589447221075675
Popis: Background: Carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) compromises fine sensorimotor function during activities of daily living and affects a large number of individuals with high burden costs for society. The purpose of this study was to quantitatively characterize fine movement skills in CTS patients preoperatively and at 1 month postoperatively by means of a sensor-engineered glove, in order to provide new insights for evaluative and finally therapeutic purposes. Methods: Forty-one CTS patients and 41 age- and gender-matched healthy controls (HC) were analyzed by adopting the engineered glove Hand Test System (HTS), which previously demonstrated its reliability and sensitivity to detect hands dysfunction in several neurological diseases. A sub-group of 11 CTS subjects was re-tested 1 month after surgery. Three parameters—touch duration (TD), inter-tapping interval (ITI), and movement rate (MR)—were considered to characterize hand function. Results: The affected hand of CTS patients generally showed worst finger opposition performances than HC. Comparing the dominant hand, all parameters were able to significantly discriminate CTS patients from HC. Considering the nondominant hand, the best performing parameter in discriminating CTS from HC was TD. The follow-up assessment at 1 month after surgery showed that considered parameters were able to monitor patients’ recovery. In particular, the TD parameter recorded at the 3 different assigned task modalities resulted significantly enhanced. Conclusions: Results of this pilot study proved the validity of the parameters obtained through the sensor-engineered glove to assess objectively hand functional status and surgical outcomes in CTS.
Databáze: OpenAIRE
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