|
Carpal tunnel syndrome is the most common hand problem, affecting as much as
5% of the adult population; yet in the large majority of cases, the condition is idiopathic.
While surgical treatment often results in improvement, residual loss of function
and some persistence of symptoms are common. Clinicians still disagree as to
diagnostic criteria, the relation of carpal tunnel syndrome to work, the best way to
evaluate the results, and the proper treatment. Yet despite the ubiquity of the condition,
and the thousands of scientific papers and hundreds of lay publications discussing
it, the extant medical texts which summarize all this for the clinician are few,
often out of date, and tend to focus on a single perspective, whether that be etiology,
evaluation, or an illustration of a particular surgical method.
It is clear that a comprehensive text, summarizing existing knowledge of carpal
tunnel syndrome from amultidisciplinary perspective, is long overdue. For that reason,
we are very happy to bring this volume on carpal tunnel syndrome to publication.
In it, we present the assembled thoughts of more than 80 international experts
on carpal tunnel syndrome and its treatment, covering medical, surgical, and rehabilitation
specialties. It represents what we consider to be the best current thinking
on the pathology, diagnosis, and treatment of carpal tunnel syndrome, including the
latest options for primary carpal tunnel release and revision surgery.While many of
these chapters appeared in an earlier, Italian language version, all have been updated,
and there are new chapters on pathology, objective evaluation, and new strategies
for reoperation.We believe that this text will fill an important void in the current
literature, in summarizing the vast and complex literature on a common and often
troublesome condition.
Of course, while we are happy to have assembled this book, and hope that its contents
prove as educational for the reader as they have been for us, the work has been
the cooperative effort of a large international group of coworkers. We wish to thank
especially our many professional colleagues, who were so willing to contribute their
expertise; our families, for their understanding, in allowing us the time to edit the
volume; and our editors at Springer-Verlag, Gabriele Schröder and Irmela Bohn.We
hope that you agree with us that the product was worth the effort. |