Ulnar neuropathy at the elbow treated with decompression. A clinical and electrophysiological investigation.

Forty-four patients with ulnar neuropathy confined to the elbow region were operated with simple decompression. The operation was usually performed more than six months after the debut of symptoms. At follow-up earliest six months postoperatively 89% of the patients had improved and 39% recovered completely. An improvement in EMG activity and/or nerve conduction velocity was seen in 89% of the patients tested pre- and postoperatively. The validity of nerve compression, epineurial fibrosis and other factors of possible prognostic significance such as age, duration of symptoms and electrophysiological findings are discussed. Since the results of simple decompression of the ulnar nerve were similar to those obtained in a previous study of transposition, the former method is recommended as the standard procedure.