THE IMPORTANCE OF RADIAL COMPRESSION SYND ROME IN THE DIAGNOSIS AND SURGICAL-TREATMENT OF EPICONDYLITIS HUMERI RADIALIS (SO-CALLED-TENNIS-ELBOW)

25 patients with Tennis Elbow were examined after surgery (= retrospec tively), 25 before surgery (= prospectively). All of the patients were operated on according to the Wilhelm and Wachsmuth method. 5-18 month s after surgery (on average 10), both groups underwent clinical examin ations. Those patients who still had symptoms were given neurophysiolo gical examinations. Both groups were compared with each other. The fol lowing results were obtained from the comparison: 1) 7 patients (28%) in the retrospective group were dissatisfied with the results of surge ry and still had symptoms specific to the disease. In the prospective group, only 2 patients (8%) complained of similar problems. 2) 6 of th e above-mentioned 7 dissatisfied patients in the retrospective group a greed to a postoperative neurophysiological examination. This revealed in five out of six patients damage to the radialis nerve. 3) At the c linical examinations of the 25 prospective patients, 17 were suspected of having radial compression syndrome. In 9 patients, this suspicion was confirmed by the neurophysiological findings. A neurolysis of the N. radialis was performed on these nine patients during surgery. All o f these patients were satisfied with the results of surgery at the fol low-up examination. The above results permit the following conclusions : 1) The failures in surgical treatment of Tennis Elbow can in part be put down to radial compression syndrome. 2) A thorough clinical exami nation, which in particular takes radial compression syndrome into acc ount, should be carried out on every Tennis-Elbow-patient. 3) The neur ophysiological examination of the main extensors of the hand should be an obligatory part of pre-operative preparations. 4) Radial compressi on syndrome should be taken into account during surgery.