Carpal tunnel syndrome in patients on intermittent haemodialysis.

Twenty-three out of thirty-six patients using a forearm arteriovenous fistula for dialysis reported symptoms of carpal tunnel syndrome in the fistula hand during dialysis. By contrast with other reported groups of patients with the syndrome, symptoms were common in male patients, and confined to the non-dominant (fistula) hand. Predialysis venous pressure in the hand and hand volume were increased on the side of the fistula, and increasing hand volume during dialysis was associated with the development of symptoms of carpal tunnel syndrome. Severe symptoms during dialysis necessitated carpal tunnel decompression in two male patients. Measures to reduce the incidence of this complication of arteriovenous fistulae in dialysis patients are discussed.