Simple Decompression Versus Anterior Transposition For Cubital Tunnel Syndrome: A Meta-analysis

Objectives:To compare simple decompression(SD) to anterior transposition(AT) for cubital tunnel syndrome(Cu TS) and evaluate the clinical improvement, postoperative nerve conduction velocities, complication and postoperative satisfaction by meta-analysis. And to provide the basis of selection of operation method for cubital tunnel syndrome. Methods:EMBASE, MEDLINE, Pubmed, Cochrame central register, CNKI, Wanfang and Google Scholar were searched for all relevant literatures from 1990 to 2015. All of them were assessed by the inclusion and exclusion criteria. The meta-analysis was performed by Rev Man 5.2 software. Results:Ten literatures were identified into this study. There were 664 cases, including 322 cases in SD group and 342 cases in AT group. There was no statistically significant between groups in clinical improvement [SD group and anterior subcutaneous transposition group, OR=1.21;95%CI(0.76,1.93),P=0.43; SD group and anterior submuscular transposition(A) group, OR=0.60; 95%CI(0.32, 1.13), P=0.12], postoperative nerve conduction velocities [MD=-0.28;95%CI(-0.66,0.10),P=0.14], and postoperative satisfaction [OR=0.95;95%CI(0.25,3.70),P=0.94]. The SD group could reduce the complication rate in comparison with the AT group[OR=0.31;95%CI(0.17,0.54),P<0.0001]. Conclusions:The meta-analysis suggested that there was no statistically significant difference between groups in terms of clinical improvement(SD group versus anterior subcutaneous transposition group and SD group versus anterior submuscular transposition group, respectively), postoperative nerve conduction and postoperative satisfaction. SD was a reasonable alternative for Cu TS with its lower complication rate.