Carpal Tunnel Syndrome and Gout

THE CARPAL tunnel syndrome is a pathological entity manifested by motor and sensory abnormalities distal to the wrist because of compression of the MEDian nerve within the carpal tunnel. This syndrome was probably first described by Paget 1 in the midnineteenth century. Slowly over the years isolated reports of this syndrome, particularly by Marie and Foix, 2 in 1913, and Moersch 3 in 1938, were published in the literature. However, the entity was firmly established and commonly recognized only within the last two decades, due to the contributions of Brain et al, 4 Phalen et al, 5 Love, 6 and Kendall. 7 Among the causes of carpal tunnel syndrome are included major trauma, postimmobilization neuropathy, osteoarthritis, occupational microtrauma, nonspecific thickening of the anterior carpal ligament, rheumatoid arthritis, amyloid, multiple myeloma, 8 Leri's pleonosteosis, 9 acromegaly, 10 myxedema, pregnancy, congestive heart failure, carpal ganglion, 11 shoulder-hand syndrome, and nonspecific tenosynovitis. 12