Host: There is a thing that you talk about Guyon's canal what is that?
Guest: Guyon was a hand surgeon in France and he first described numbness and tingling in the fourth and fifth fingers from pressure on the ulnar nerve at the wrist, just as we have a cubital tunnel syndrome and Guyon's canal is at the wrist joint. So when the ulnar nerve is pressured at the wrist joint, for example, by ganglion that is the most common cause, then you get numbness and tingling in the fourth and the fifth fingers; that is called Guyon's canal syndrome.
Host: And the approach to that would be surgery?
Guest: Guyon's canal syndrome is almost always surgery because the Guyon's canal does not cause numbness and tingling without extrinsic pressure. In other words, there has to be pressure on the Guyon's canal from something outside. It could be like pleomorphic tumor, it could be ganglion like the cyst, or it could be some other cause.
Host: And how common is this?
Guest: Very rare, for say every thousand carpal tunnels that I do, maybe, I see one or two Guyon's canal.
Host: Is there any particular group more prone to it than the other group?
Guest: No, people who get ulnar artery aneurysm, ganglion within the Guyon's canal - it has to be some sort of soft tissue that is causing pressure and so an MRI is very useful for Guyon's canal syndrome.
Host: But basically it is a surgical correction?
Guest: Most of the time it is surgical, yes.
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