Sonographic Measurement of Intraneural Blood Flow in the Median Nerve

University of Southern California

Status: Completed

Conditions: Carpal Tunnel Syndrome; Median Nerve Injury

Treatments: Behavioral: Using a mouse; Behavioral: Exercising; Behavioral: Cooling; Behavioral: Heating; Behavioral: Cooking; Behavioral: Typing

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT05057754

HS-21-04511

Details and patient eligibility

About

Carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) is the most common nerve compression disease and the most expensive upper-extremity work-related musculoskeletal disorder, affecting approximately 10 million people in the US. To understand the clear etiology and mechanism of carpal tunnel syndrome, the measurement of median nerve intraneural blood flow needs to be further scrutinized as the common fluctuating physiological conditions and functional hand activities might contribute to the fluctuation of the measurement and serve as measurement error. This study aims to examine how intraneural blood flow within the median nerve is affected by physiological factors (i.e., body temperature and blood pressure) and functional hand activities (i.e., typing, using a mouse, and cooking).

Enrollment: 20 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18 to 65 years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Aged 18 to 65
• English-speaking
• Ability to endure a moderate-intensity physical activity
• Ability to type without looking at the keyboard

Exclusion criteria

• Pain, tingling, or numbness in the hand or wrist region within the past week
• History of corticoid injection in the upper extremity
• History of surgery in the wrist region
• Carpal tunnel syndrome
• Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
• Diabetes
• Hypothyroidism
• Pregnant
• Positive Phalen's test
• Persistent median artery within wrist region
• Bifid median nerve

Trial design

Primary purpose: Basic Science

Allocation: N/A

Interventional model: Single Group Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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20 participants in 1 patient group

Experimental Group

Experimental group

Description:

A total of 50 participants are estimated to be recruited, each completing six conditions in the following order: 1) wrist cooling, 2) wrist heating, 3) exercising, 4) typing, 5) using a mouse, 6) cooking, with an observation of intraneural blood flow assessed with Doppler sonography before and after each condition.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Heating

Behavioral: Exercising

Behavioral: Using a mouse

Behavioral: Cooking

Behavioral: Typing

Behavioral: Cooling