Aim: To evaluate the effectiveness of surgical decompression versus local corticosteroids for carpal tunnel syndrome in improving clinical outcome and to determine the length of symptom relief

Study Design: This was a comparative, longitudinal and interventional study.

Place and duration of study: OPD and A&E department of Orthopedics Surgery and Traumatology (DOST) Unit I, King Edward Medical University/ Mayo Hospital Lahore. duration of study was 1 year after approval of synopsis.

Methodology: Cases of carpel tunnel syndrome with age 18 years and above were included. The diagnosis of carpel tunnel syndrome was based on general physical examination, nerve conduction studies and additional radiological test.). A total 64 patients were selected randomly. They were divided into two groups. GROUP “A” was treated by surgical decompression. Group “B” was treated by local corticosteroids. They were follow up at 3 months, 6 months and 1 year. All the procedures were done by single surgical team. Outcome measuring tools symptom  severity scale(CTS) and functional status scale (CTS) were used.

Results: In group A and B the mean age of patients was 45.44±8.39 and  47.22±9.72 years respectively. Mean symptoms severity scale in group-A was higher when compared to group-B at 3 months, 6 month and 1 year with p-value < 0.05. Moreover mean functional severity scale was also improved in group-A when compared to group-B at 3 month, 6 month and 1 year with p-value < 0.05.

Conclusion: Through this study we conclude that surgical decompression of carpal tunnel versus local corticosteroid injection in terms of clinical outcome improvement and to assess the length of symptomatic relief.