Simultaneous versus staged bilateral carpal tunnel release via open and endoscopic surgeries: A retrospective propensity score-matched patient comorbidity analysis

OBJECTIVE Carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) presents bilaterally in nearly 60%-70% of affected patients. Bilateral carpal tunnel release (CTR) can be performed in a staged or simultaneous fashion. There remains a limited understanding of the optimal preoperative factors to use for patient selection when determining simultaneous versus staged bilateral CTR. Moreover, it is unclear how these factors influence postoperative outcomes. In this study, the authors aimed to identify and compare preoperative comorbidities and postoperative outcomes in patients who had undergone simultaneous versus staged open and endoscopic bilateral CTR. METHODS The authors performed a retrospective analysis of data collected from the TriNetX database. Patients with bilateral CTS who had been treated from February 1, 2002, to February 1, 2022, were dichotomized by their bilateral release approach: simultaneous or staged within 3 months. The resulting groups were analyzed separately by open versus endoscopic techniques. Next, cohorts were analyzed for preoperative comorbidities to identify possible factors for surgical determination. Then, they were propensity score matched on demographics and comorbidities. Postoperative outcomes within 6 months of surgery were measured with and without matching. RESULTS After matching, 9286 and 3709 patients remained in the open and endoscopic groups, respectively. Those who had undergone staged surgeries via an open or endoscopic approach had more preoperative comorbidities. After matching, staged open release was associated with significantly higher rates of postprocedural care, hand/joint pain, limb pain, trigger finger, and upper respiratory tract infections. Simultaneous open release was associated with higher rates of emergency room visits. Staged endoscopic release was associated with significantly higher rates of postprocedural care, limb pain, and trigger finger. No significant outcomes were favored in the simultaneous endoscopic group. CONCLUSIONS Before matching, patients who had undergone staged CTR had significantly higher rates of preoperative medical comorbidities compared with patients in the simultaneous CTR group. Moreover, staged CTR was significantly associated with higher rates of postoperative complications. After matching on demographics and comorbidities, staged CTR was still associated with higher rates of postoperative complications, suggesting that preoperative comorbidities do not influence postoperative outcome. Further prospective studies could be used to validate these results and provide new findings for the management and treatment of these groups.