| Methods |
RCT |
| Participants |
44 people (age range 27 to 83 years; 33 male, 11 female) with signs and symptoms of idiopathic ulnar nerve entrapment, without benefit after conservative treatment and with electrophysiological evidence of the nerve impairment. Exclusion criteria included:
repeat surgery; prior fracture or dislocation at the elbow; tumours; subluxing ulnar nerve syndrome; unwillingness to participate in the study.
|
| Interventions |
Simple decompression (23 participants), submuscular transposition (21 participants) |
| Outcomes |
Clinical outcome:
4‐tiered McGowan grading system 6‐tiered Louisiana State University Medical Center (LSUMC) grading system
|
| Conflicts of interest |
No information provided. |
| Study funding |
No information provided. |
| Notes |
Operations were performed between August 1993 and June 1998 by a single surgeon in 2 hospitals in Australia. Follow‐up at 6 weeks and 6 months after surgery |
| Risk of bias |
| Bias |
Authors' judgement |
Support for judgement |
| Random sequence generation (selection bias) |
Low risk |
Computer‐generated random numbers |
| Allocation concealment (selection bias) |
Unclear risk |
No allocation concealment method is described. |
| Blinding of participants and personnel (performance bias)
All outcomes |
Unclear risk |
Not specified. |
| Blinding of outcome assessment (detection bias)
All outcomes |
Unclear risk |
Not specified. |
| Incomplete outcome data (attrition bias)
Clinical or neurophysiological outcome |
Low risk |
Quote: "Three patients were lost to follow‐up" |
| Selective reporting (reporting bias) |
Low risk |
Results from all the outcome measures are reported. |
| Other bias |
High risk |
The sample size was not calculated. The authors do not specify if the study was designed to be a non‐inferiority or a superiority trial. |
