Re: Causes of failed CT surgery
30 August 2012 - 4:01am
Talk about blame the victim. How can physicians point to alcohol use as an indicator of failed Carpal Tunnel Release surgery? Isn't this something that should be discussed and possibly contraindicate CTR surgery? A poor workman blames his tools. It is about accountability. If this is in fact true, social and moderate drinkers should be excluded as viable surgical candidates. In my opinion of course.
I would suspect that alcohol use is simply a marker for a whole variety of personal and social factors which result in poorer outcomes for all sorts of things - in much the same way that lower income is correlated with shorter life expectancy. This particular result has only been shown in one study so it is no more than a suggestion. Of course most studies of outcome for carpal tunnel decompression have not asked the patients about their alcohol consumption at all. JB