Hi All, I am due to have the revision done after having previous successful CTR over 20 years ago. Has anyone else had this done? My hand is not painful just goes numb and tingling all the time. Had it for over a year and nothing has made it better. Also what was your recovery time and when did you go back to work? Surgeon said I need 6 weeks off of work but I don't get paid as I work for a small company so that is a concern too.
It's rare but true recurrence after 20+ years of symptom freedom after surgery does occur - curiously enough I saw a patient with exactly this story this afternoon. Treating it is very similar to treating it the first time, though technically a little more difficult because of the old scar tissue. Many surgeons prefer to do these under general anaesthetic. Recovery time should be similar to a first time around operation ie 1-6 weeks depending on how fast you heal and how much you want to do with the hand. The problem should be documented with NCS before they take a knife to it and, if available locally, ultrasound imaging can often confirm that there is recurrent compression of the nerve and show where it is - it's not always at the 'usual' CTS site in recurrent cases. It's a few years since I made particular study of second time operations and it's probably about time I looked at the topic again. Dr J Bland
Hi Jeremy, sorry I was not notified of your response. I have had the ultrasound and nerve conduction tests done. Surgeon said he would like to do it under a general if no risk to me if possible. so will wait and see.
​Still waiting for my date to go in!
So that is pretty much as I said - did they show you the ultrasound images? I've had another patient with pretty much the same story this morning - recurrence at 25 years after the original operation JB
They did but to be honest I cannot recall what they showed me now.