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Evaluation of thermography in the diagnosis of selected entrapment neuropathies

Department of Neurology, University of California, San Francisco, CA.

We studied 20 normal subjects, 22 patients with carpal tunnel syndrome, and 15 with ulnar neuropathy at the elbow to compare the diagnostic accuracy of infrared thermography with that of conventional electrodiagnostic studies. We found abnormal thermograms in 55% of patients with carpal tunnel syndrome and 47% with ulnar neuropathy, using 2.5 SD from the normal mean as criteria for abnormality. The abnormalities consisted of either an increase in interside temperature difference in the fingers and hands or an alteration of the normal thenar-hypothenar temperature gradient in the fingers. The sensitivity of thermography was considerably lower than that of conventional electrodiagnostic methods. Moreover, the thermographic abnormalities were nonspecific, and could be misleading as they did not reliably identify the side of lesion or distinguish between median or ulnar nerve involvement. Thus, thermography is not helpful in the diagnosis of these two common entrapment neuropathies.

Address correspondence and reprint requests to Dr. Aminoff, Box 0114, Department of Neurology, University of California, San Francisco, CA 94143.

Received August 16, 1988. Accepted for publication in final form September 16, 1988.

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