Carpal, cubital or tarsal tunnel syndrome after SARS-CoV-2 infection: A causal link?

Luca Roncati; Greta Gianotti; Davide Gravina; Giovanna Attolini; Giuliana Zanelli; Norman Della Rosa; Roberto Adani

doi:10.1016/j.mehy.2021.110638

Carpal, cubital or tarsal tunnel syndrome after SARS-CoV-2 infection: A causal link?

Med Hypotheses. 2021 Aug:153:110638. doi: 10.1016/j.mehy.2021.110638. Epub 2021 Jun 24.

Authors

Luca Roncati¹, Greta Gianotti², Davide Gravina³, Giovanna Attolini², Giuliana Zanelli², Norman Della Rosa⁴, Roberto Adani⁴

Affiliations

¹ Institute of Pathology, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Modena, Italy. Electronic address: luca.roncati@unimore.it.
² Institute of Pathology, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Modena, Italy.
³ Unit of Orthopedics and Traumatology, University Hospital of Modena, Modena, Italy.
⁴ Unit of Hand Surgery and Microsurgery, University Hospital of Modena, Modena, Italy.

Abstract

COVID-19 is a complex disease with many clinicopathological issues, including respiratory, gastrointestinal, neurological, renal, cutaneous, and coagulative ones; in addition, reactive arthritis has been reported by different authors. Here, we hypothesize that a peripheral microangiopathy involving nerve supply, a viral demyelination, or an immune-mediated irritating antigenic stimulus on synovial sheaths after SARS-CoV-2 infection may all induce a carpal, cubital or tarsal tunnel syndrome of variable entity in genetically predisposed subjects associated with myxoid nerve degeneration.

Keywords: Carpal tunnel syndrome; Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19); Cubital tunnel syndrome; Histopathology; Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2); Tarsal tunnel syndrome.

Publication types

Letter

MeSH terms

COVID-19*
Carpal Tunnel Syndrome*
Cubital Tunnel Syndrome*
Humans
SARS-CoV-2
Tarsal Tunnel Syndrome*