The Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

Excerpt

To the Editors: The study by Katz and colleagues (1) in a recent issue is an important contribution to the often confusing literature on the carpal tunnel syndrome. As a neurologist with an interest in electromyography, I have four concerns. First, the electric criteria for the carpal tunnel syndrome consist of values that were not adjusted for age. Simple cutoff values for the entire population may lead to overdiagnosis in elderly persons and underdiagnosis in younger patients. In fact, in some laboratories the stated values would be considered normal in older persons (Normative data. Electromyography Laboratory, The Cleveland Clinic Foundation).