Carpal tunnel syndrome in HIV-1 patients: a metabolic consequence of protease inhibitor use?

HIV-1 infection by itself may lead to a number of neurological conditions, prominent among which is a distal sensorimotor polyneuropathy. A few short reports have anecdotally suggested that protease inhibitor (PI) use, as part of antiretroviral regimens used to treat AIDS, may rectify this type of neuropathy. No study, however, has reported that any form of neuropathy has resulted as a consequence of such treatment. In this report, four cases of carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) are presented, which occurred in HIV-1-infected patients and may have been secondary to the metabolic effects of PI use.