APPLICATION OF ELECTRICAL IMPEDANCE MYOGRAPHY IN CHARACTERIZING CARPAL TUNNEL SYNDROME

Background:Electrical impedance myography(EIM)is a non-invasive,painless,and easy-to-perform technique for assessing neuromuscular disorders.We evaluated the potential of EIM for quantitatively characterizing carpal tunnel syndrome(CTS).Methods:Healthy subjects and patients with differing severity of CTS underwent EIM measurement of their small hand muscles.A bioelectrical impedance vector analysis(BIVA)method was first applied to display 50-kHz EIM data in a single plot.Results:Patients with more severe CTS had smaller EIM values in the affected muscle.The reactance and phase parameters differed significantly between any two groups(P<0.05).Their accuracy for differentiating between any two adjacent groups was approximately 80%and for other groups was approximately 90%.There was a strong association between EIM and electrophysiology results.Conclusion:BIVA is convenient and helpful for indicating the differences between healthy subjects and CTS patients.These results demonstrate EIM’s potential for quantitatively characterizing patients with CTS.