The Minimal Clinically Important Difference of the Carpal Tunnel Syndrome Symptom Severity Scale

2006 ◽  
Vol 31 (5) ◽  
pp. 733-738 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tuna Özyürekoğlu ◽  
Steven J. McCabe ◽  
L. Jane Goldsmith ◽  
A. Scott LaJoie
2019 ◽  
Vol 109 (4) ◽  
pp. 343-350
Author(s):  
J. Multanen ◽  
J. Ylinen ◽  
T. Karjalainen ◽  
H. Kautiainen ◽  
J. P. Repo ◽  
...  

Background and Aims: The Boston Carpal Tunnel Questionnaire is the most commonly used outcome measure in the assessment of carpal tunnel syndrome. The purpose of this study was to translate the original Boston Carpal Tunnel Questionnaire into Finnish and validate its psychometric properties. Materials and Methods: We translated and culturally adapted the Boston Carpal Tunnel Questionnaire into Finnish. Subsequently, 193 patients completed the Finnish version of the Boston Carpal Tunnel Questionnaire, 6-Item CTS Symptoms Scale, and EuroQol 5 Dimensions 12 months after carpal tunnel release. The Boston Carpal Tunnel Questionnaire was re-administered after a 2-week interval. We calculated construct validity, internal consistency, test–retest reliability, and coefficient of repeatability. We also examined floor and ceiling effects. Results: The cross-cultural adaptation required only minor modifications to the questions. Both subscales of the Boston Carpal Tunnel Questionnaire (Symptom Severity Scale and Functional Status Scale) correlated significantly with the CTS-6 and EuroQol 5 Dimensions, indicating good construct validity. The Cronbach’s alpha was 0.93 for both the Symptom Severity Scale and Functional Status Scale, indicating high internal consistency. Test–retest reliability was excellent, with an intraclass correlation coefficient greater than 0.8 for both scales. The coefficient of repeatability was 0.80 for the Symptom Severity Scale and 0.68 for the Functional Status Scale. We observed a floor effect in the Functional Status Scale in 28% of participants. Conclusion: Our study shows that the present Finnish version of the Boston Carpal Tunnel Questionnaire is reliable and valid for the evaluation of symptom severity and functional status among surgically treated carpal tunnel syndrome patients. However, owing to the floor effect, the Functional Status Score may have limited ability to detect differences in patients with good post-operative outcomes.


Author(s):  
Mariana Sutopo ◽  
Yudy Goysal ◽  
David Gunawan Umbas ◽  
Susi Aulina ◽  
Louis Kwandou ◽  
...  

     EFFECT OF STEROID INJECTION TECHNIQUE WITH ULTRASOUND GUIDANCE ON CLINICAL OUTCOMES IN CARPAL TUNNEL SYNDROME PATIENTSABSTRACTIntroduction: Carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) is the most common entrapment neuropathy in the upper extremity and one of the diseases that causes disability, thereby reducing productivity. This study purpose is to determine the effect of steroid injection techniques with and without ultrasound guidance on clinical outcomes in patients with CTS.Method: This study was a clinical trial with a non-randomized pretest-posttest-control group design. This study subjects were 36 patients with CTS, consisting of 18 wrists receiving steroid injection with ultrasound guidance and 18 wrists without ultrasound guidance.Results: The results showed a significant change in the Symptom Severity Scale (SSS) and Functional Status Scale (FSS) (p<0.05) after treatment in the steroid injection group with and without ultrasound guidance. The results of the unpaired t-test on changes in the SSS between the groups who received steroid injection with ultrasound guidance and without ultrasound guidance showed no significant difference (p>0.05). The results of the Mann-Whitney test on changes in FSS scores between groups who received steroid injections with and without ultrasound guidance showed no significant differences (p>0.05).Discussion: Decrease in Boston SSS and FSS after steroid injections in both groups were in accordance with theory that steroid injection can quickly bind directly to nerve cell receptors and inhibit production of proinflammatory mediators. Whereas results of the study comparing effectiveness of steroid injection techniques with ultrasound guidance and without ultrasound guidance were not significant because observations were only made for 1 week.Keywords: Carpal tunnel syndrome, functional status scale, steroid injection, symptom severity scale, USG-guidedABSTRAKPendahuluan: Carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) adalah neuropati jebakan yang paling sering pada ekstremitas atas dan merupakan salah satu penyakit yang menyebabkan disabilitas, sehingga menurunkan produktivitas. Penelitian ini bertujuan mengetahui pengaruh teknik injeksi steroid dengan dan tanpa tuntunan ultrasonografi terhadap luaran klinis pada pasien carpal tunnel syndrome.Metode: Penelitian ini adalah uji klinis dengan rancangan non-randomized pretest-posttest-control-group. Penelitian ini dilakukan terhadap 36 pasien CTS, terdiri dari 18 pergelangan tangan yang mendapat injeksi steroid dengan tuntunan USG dan 18 pergelangan tangan tanpa tuntunan USG.Hasil: Hasil penelitian menunjukkan adanya perubahan Symptom Severity Scale (SSS) dan Functional Status Scale (FSS) yang bermakna (p<0,05) setelah perlakuan pada kelompok injeksi steroid dengan dan tanpa tuntunan USG. Hasil uji-t tidak berpasangan terhadap perubahan SSS antara kelompok yang mendapat injeksi steroid dengan tuntunan USG dan tanpa tuntunan USG menunjukkan perbedaan tidak bermakna (p>0,05). Hasil uji Mann-Whitney terhadap perubahan skor FSS antara kelompok yang mendapat injeksi steroid dengan tuntunan USG dan tanpa tuntunan USG menunjukkan perbedaan tidak bermakna (p>0,05).Diskusi: Penurunan SSS dan FSS kuesioner Boston setelah dilakukan injeksi steroid pada kedua kelompok ini sesuai dengan teori bahwa injeksi steroid dapat dengan cepat berikatan langsung dengan reseptor sel saraf. Ikatan steroid dengan reseptor di sel saraf dapat menghambat produksi mediator proinflamasi. Sedangkan hasil penelitian yang membandingkan efektivitas teknik injeksi steroid dengan tuntunan USG dan tanpa tuntunan USG tidak bermakna karena pengamatan hanya dilakukan selama 1 minggu.Kata kunci: Carpal tunnel syndrome, functional status scale, injeksi steroid, symptom severity scale, USG-guided


2018 ◽  
Vol 44 (3) ◽  
pp. 283-289 ◽  
Author(s):  
Floriaan G.C.M. De Kleermaeker ◽  
Hieronymus D. Boogaarts ◽  
Jan Meulstee ◽  
Wim I.M. Verhagen

No consensus exists about the minimal clinically important difference for the Boston Carpal Tunnel Questionnaire, which hampers its clinical application. This study assessed the minimal clinically important difference of this questionnaire. The Boston Carpal Tunnel Questionnaire was completed by 180 patients, with clinically defined carpal tunnel syndrome, preoperatively and at about 8 months follow-up after carpal tunnel release, together with a six-point scale for perceived improvement. Receiver operator characteristics curves showed that relative changes in Symptom Severity Scale and Functional Status Scale scores correspond better to a clinically relevant improvement than absolute changes. The minimal clinically important difference should be individually calculated from baseline Symptom Severity Scale and Functional Status Scale scores, as patients experiencing more symptoms require more improvement to notice a clinically important difference. By taking this into account, the Boston Carpal Tunnel Questionnaire is more meaningful as an outcome measure in research and clinical practice.


Hand ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 13 (5) ◽  
pp. 593-599 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anastasia Bougea ◽  
Thomas Zambelis ◽  
Panagiota Voskou ◽  
Paraskevi Zacharoula Katsika ◽  
Chara Tzavara ◽  
...  

Background: The Boston Carpal Tunnel Questionnaire (BCTQ) is an easy, brief, self-administered questionnaire developed by Levine et al for the assessment of severity of symptoms and functional status of patients with carpal tunnel syndrome. The aim of our study was to develop and validate the Greek version of BCTQ. Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study of 90 patients with idiopathic carpal tunnel syndrome. The original English version of BCTQ was adapted into Greek using forward and backward translation. Reliability was assessed by internal consistency (Cronbach α and item-total correlation) and reproducibility. Validity was examined by correlating the Boston Questionnaire scores to Canterbury severity scale for electrodiagnostic severity grading. Results: The Greek version showed high reliability (Cronbach α 0.89 for Symptom Severity Scale and 0.93 for Functional Status Scale) and construct validity (Pearson correlation coefficient 0.53 for Symptom Severity Scale and 0.68 for Functional Status Scale). Test-retest were 0.75 for Symptom Severity Scale and 0.79 for Functional Status Scale ( P < .05). Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis showed that the optimal cutoff of Symptom Severity Scale for the discrimination of subjects with low electrodiagnostic severity grading than subjects with high electrodiagnostic severity grading was 1.95 with sensitivity equal to 75.5% and specificity equal to 68.3%. Conclusions: The Greek version of the BCTQ is a valid, reliable screening tool for assessment in daily practice of symptoms and functional status in patients with carpal tunnel syndrome.


Author(s):  
Kamelia Möllestam ◽  
Roberto S. Rosales ◽  
Per-Erik Lyrén ◽  
Isam Atroshi

Abstract Purpose To assess score agreement between the Atroshi-Lyrén 6-item symptoms scale and the Boston 11-item symptom severity scale and compare their responsiveness in patients with carpal tunnel syndrome before and after carpal tunnel release surgery. Methods This prospective cohort study included 3 cohorts that completed the A-L and Boston scales (conventional score 1–5) on the same occasion: a preoperative and short-term postoperative cohort (212 patients), a mid-term postoperative cohort (101 patients), and a long-term postoperative cohort (124 patients). Agreement was assessed with Lin’s concordance correlation coefficient and Passing-Bablok regression analysis. Analyses using item response theory were conducted on responses from the preoperative/short-term postoperative cohort including testing of item infit/outfit. Reliability was assessed with Cronbach alpha. Overall and sex-specific effect sizes were calculated using Cohen’s d. Results Lin’s CCCs were high (0.81–0.91). Passing-Bablok analysis showed constant and proportional differences in all cohorts except preoperative to short-term postoperative change. Both scales showed high reliability (alpha, 0.88–0.93). The IRT-based analyses showed infit/outfit values within the desired range. With IRT-based scoring, the A-L scale had significantly higher responsiveness than the Boston scale, overall (d, 2.02 vs 1.59), in women (d, 2.22 vs 1.77) and in men (d, 1.74 vs 1.36). Conclusion The Atroshi-Lyrén 6-item symptoms scale and the Boston 11-item symptom severity scale show good agreement but are not equivalent in measuring CTS-related symptoms severity. When using IRT-based scoring, the Atroshi-Lyrén scale demonstrated significantly higher responsiveness.


Author(s):  
Ahmed M. Ahmed ◽  
Osama G. Hassan ◽  
Ahmed A. Khalifa

Abstract Background Carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) is a common upper limb entrapment neuropathy; severe cases are treated surgically and mild to moderate can be managed conservatively. The purpose of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to define the efficacy of gabapentin as an adjuvant to splinting in the treatment of mild to moderate CTS. Methods A systematic search through 13 databases, randomized clinical trials (RCTs) reporting the use of gabapentin with splinting in CTS were included and analyzed. Results Three RCTs including 170 patients were eligible. There was no significant difference between gabapentin plus splinting and splinting alone in 5 measured parameters: (1) Symptom Severity Scale (SSS) [MD (95% CI) = − 0.76 (− 2.46–0.93), p = 0.378], (2) Functional Status Scale (FSS) [MD (95% CI) = − 0.23 (− 1.40–0.94), p = 0.701], (3) visual analogue scale (VAS) to assess pain [MD (95% CI) = − 0.6 (− 1.47–0.27), p = 0.174], (4) Grip strength [MD (95% CI) = − 0.11 (− 0.70–0.48), p = 0.718], and (5) pinch strength [MD (95% CI) = 0.72 (− 0.10–1.54), p = 0.083]. Conclusion This review provides low-quality evidence that gabapentin plus nocturnal splinting is not superior to splinting alone. More high-quality trials are needed to determine the role of this drug as an adjuvant in the management of CTS.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Gregor Schulze ◽  
Kristian Bernhard Nilsen ◽  
Rikke Munk Killingmo ◽  
John Anker Zwart ◽  
Margreth Grotle

Background: Self-reported measures are often used in research and clinical practice to diagnose carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) and guide therapeutic choices. We aimed to assess the clinical utility of the Norwegian versions of two self-reported outcome measures for symptom severity assessment, the 6-item CTS (CTS-6), and Boston-CTS (BCTQ), and of one diagnostic measure, the hand-diagram, by evaluating measurement properties including discriminative ability for severity assessment (CTS-6, BCTQ), and diagnosis of CTS (hand-diagram).Methods: We performed forward and backward translation and cultural adaptation of the Norwegian CTS-6 and BCTQ. Following COSMIN guidelines, we investigated internal consistency, reliability, construct validity, and discriminative ability for distinguishing between severity levels of CTS in patients with confirmed CTS for the CTS-6 and BCTQ and reliability and discriminative ability for diagnosing CTS for the hand-diagram.Results: Two hundred and fifty-one patients referred for diagnostic work-up for CTS with nerve conduction studies (NCS) participated. The CTS-6 and BCTQ had acceptable internal consistency (Crohnbach's α = 0.82 and 0.86, respectively), reliability (ICC = 0.86 and 0.90; SEM = 0.24 and 0.20; SDC95% = 0.68 and 0.55, respectively), construct validity (all eight pre-defined hypotheses confirmed) and discriminative ability to distinguish between severity levels of CTS [Area under the curve (AUC) = 0.75, 95% CI 0.64–0.85]. The hand-diagram had acceptable reliability (Cohen's kappa = 0.69) and discriminative ability to diagnose CTS (sensitivity = 0.72, specificity = 0.90).Conclusion: Our findings support the clinical utility of the CTS-6 and BCTQ for symptom severity assessment and of the hand-diagram for diagnostic screening.


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