Primary Familial Bilateral Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

  1. ROBERT G. GRAY, M.D.;
  2. MARTIN J. POPPO, M.D.; and
  3. NORMAN L. GOTTLIEB, M.D.
  1. Springfield, Massachusetts; and Miami, Florida

    Abstract

    We identified bilateral carpal tunnel syndrome in 19 of 43 living persons of a nonconsanguineous family. No single common etiologic feature was seen. Sixty-three percent of the afflicted kindred had symptomatic digital flexor tenosynovitis. Noninflammatory thickening of the flexor retinaculum or tendon sheaths, or both, was the commonest surgical finding. The 44% prevalence, early age of onset, and equal sex ratio differ from idiopathic carpal tunnel syndrome. Family pedigree suggests an inheritable disorder transmitted by an autosomal dominant gene with a high degree of penetrance.

    Article and Author Information

    • ▸From the Department of Medicine, Tufts University School of Medicine at Baystate Medical Center, Springfield, Massachusetts; and the Arthritis Division, Department of Medicine, University of Miami School of Medicine, Miami, Florida.

    • This work was supported in part by a training grant in arthritis and rheumatic diseases from the National Institutes of Health (NIH-AM05058); the Dade County Division of the Arthritis Foundation; and the Applebaum, Greenberg and Oritt Funds.

    • ▸Requests for reprints should be addressed to Norman L. Gottlieb, M.D.; Division of Rheumatology 4-10, P.O. Box 016960; Miami, FL 33155.

      • Received January 8, 1979.
      • Accepted March 12, 1979.
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    This Article

    1. Ann Intern Med July 1, 1979 vol. 91 no. 1 37-40
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