Comparison of three different surgical approaches in the treatment of cubital tunnel syndrome

Objective To compare the clinical efficacy of simple decompression,modified intramuscular transposition and anterior subcutaneous transposition of the ulnar nerve in the treatment of cubital tunnel syndrome.Methods From November 2005 to January 2012,67 patients with cubital tunnel syndrome were treated.Among them,26 cases underwent simple decompression of the ulnar nerve,20 cases were treated by modified inwamuscular ulnar nerve transposition,and 21 cases were treated by anterior subcutaneous transposition of the ulnar nerve.Postoperative follow-up time ranged from 10 to 58 months.DASH score,grip strength,thumb-index finger pinch force,index-middle finger pinch force,Sernmes-Weinstein monofilament test of the ring and little fingem and moving and static two-point discrimination of the ring and little fingers were measured to evaluate the efficacy of the three types of surgery.Results Clinical improvement was observed in all the patients postoperatively.No statistically significant differences of the outcome measures were found among the three operative methods.Conclusion Simple decompression,modified intramusular transposition and anterior subcutaneous transposition of the ulnar nerve lead to similar results in the treatment of cubital tunnel syndrome. Key words: Cubital tunnel syndrome;  Surgical procedures, operative;  Follow-up studies