Carpal Tunnel or Trigger Finger Release Can Be Life-saving
Some older patients undergoing bilateral CTR or trigger release will develop fatal cardiac amyloidosis — a biopsy you send during "routine" hand surgery may save their lives
What’s the Claim?
It’s not often that carpal tunnel or trigger finger release can be life-saving, so lean in here: 16% of patients who had surgery either for bilateral carpal tunnel syndrome, multiple trigger digits, or a combination tested positive for amyloid distribution. The study was limited to males over the age of 50 and females over the age of 60. This is immediately practical, and warrants a change to our practices, since tenosynovial biopsy in these patients may be the best way — the only way, for many — to make this diagnosis before the onset of symptoms of cardiac amyloidosis.
