Association between carpal tunnel syndrome and trigger finger: a clinical and electrophysiological study

Background Carpal tunnel syndrome is a prevalent mononeuropathy. Trigger finger is a flexor stenosing tenosynovitis. The aim of the study was to assess the concomitant occurrence of carpal tunnel syndrome and trigger finger in the same hand among patients presented with idiopathic carpal tunnel syndrome or idiopathic trigger finger. The study included 110 hands (75 patients) presented with carpal tunnel syndrome or trigger finger and 60 asymptomatic hands (46 apparently healthy individuals). Clinical assessment and neurophysiological evaluation were done. Results Regarding the presenting clinical complaints, there were 76 hands (69.1%) from 48 patients (64.0%) presented with idiopathic carpal tunnel syndrome. There 34 hands (30.9%) from 27 patients (36.0%) presented with idiopathic trigger finger. Classification of the patients into three groups depending on the final diagnosis: (I) carpal tunnel syndrome group, 57 hands (51.8%) with only carpal tunnel syndrome from 36 patients (48.0%); (II) trigger finger group, 25 hands (22.7%) with only trigger finger from 22 patients (29.3%); and (III) carpal tunnel syndrome with trigger finger group, 28 hands (25.5%) with both conditions from 24 patients (32.0%); and among them, seven patients had contralateral hand carpal tunnel syndrome only. The duration of complaints among the carpal tunnel syndrome with trigger finger group was significantly shorter than that in the other two groups. There were statistically significantly higher values of patient global assessment of hand symptoms and effect of hand symptoms on function and quality of life among the carpal tunnel syndrome with trigger finger group versus the other two groups. There was no statistically significant difference between the carpal tunnel syndrome with trigger finger group versus the carpal tunnel syndrome group regarding different classes of the Padua neurophysiological classification scale. The most common digit to have trigger finger was the middle finger in 19 hands (35.8%). Conclusions The concurrent presentation of idiopathic carpal tunnel syndrome and idiopathic trigger finger in the same hand is common. Each of them could be associated with the other one. The symptoms of one of them usually predominate the patient’s complaints. The identification of this association is essential for proper diagnosis and comprehensive management of patients presented with these conditions.