Monitoring rice
paddy farmers for pesticide and fire fighters for PCB exposure as well as
detecting the toxicity from arsenic, lead, other heavy metals and monitoring
workers for Carpal Tunnel Syndrome and vibration exposure - the Neurometer
has played a key role in occupational and environmental medicine.
The CPT evaluation
enables the screening and documentation of carpal tunnel syndrome and other
repetitive motion disorders resulting in nerve injury, vibration neuropathy,
as well as toxic chemical exposure. An additional application is for the
assessment of occupationally related lower back injuries. The portability of
the CPT device facilitates on-site studies.
CPT Evaluation of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome (CTS):
According to OSHA, repetitive-stress injuries are costing corporate America
and the health care industry billions of dollars. Last year, more than 1,200
newspaper and magazine stories highlighted the problem, dozens referring to
it as the next great epidemic. Getting the worker back to work, or better
yet, keeping the worker on the job requires early detection and effective
treatment of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome.
CPT evaluations of median digital nerve integrity, in otherwise healthy
individuals, detects and documents hyperesthesia associated with the
earliest stages of CTS, as well as the hypoesthesia found in advanced CTS.
Abnormal median digital nerve CPT measures, with normal palmar median nerve
branch and ulnar nerve digital branch CPT's within a hand, will confirm the
diagnosis of CTS. If CTS is detected by CPT evaluation in its earliest
stages, it may often be cured by conservative therapy, precluding surgical
intervention required to treat advanced CTS. The CPT evaluation enables
earlier detection of CTS sensory impairments than the sensory NCV.
The
ability of the CPT evaluation to detect sub-clinical measures has yielded
the greatest savings for industry, both in financial terms and in medical
terms. A recently published study by Jane Vale, M.D. and Ted Dreisinger,
Ph.D., involving 983 workers at a Tyson Foods' poultry processing plant,
employed the CPT exam as the Quantitative Sensory Test component of a screen
for early signs of Upper Extremity Cumulative Trauma Disorder (UECTD). Over
a 12 month period, the annual cost of treating these disorders among workers
at the plant dropped from $106,000 to $6,000. A follow-up study encompassing
1500 workers using the same protocol yielded similar results.
Presently, there is a great demand for a diagnostic
test with the sensitivity of the CPT for reducing the incidence, as well as
the medical costs associated with advanced CTS and other types of cumulative
trauma disorders.
The sNCT evaluation has
demonstrated for the detection and evaluation of Hand Arm Vibration Syndrome
(HAVS) and occupational toxic exposure.
Related publications
are cited on the web page
Selected Neurometer® CPT Research Publications Grouped by Topic and
Specialty.
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