Carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) is the most common compressive neuropathy worldwide. Compressed peripheral nerves exhibit distorted architecture, demyelination and perineurial fibrosis. Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) generates proxy measures of nerve ‘health’ which are sensitive to myelination, axon diameter, fibre density and organisation. This meta-analysis included 32 studies of 2643 wrists, belonging to 1575 asymptomatic adults and 1068 patients with CTS. We summarise the normal FA (0·58 [95% CI 0·56-0·59]) and MD (1·138 x10-3 mm2/s [95% CI 1·101-1·174]) of the median nerve, then show that diffusion throughout the length of the median nerve is more isotropic in patients with CTS.
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