The authors present a short review of anatomic and pathophysiological bases of the carpal tunnel syndrome, and its surgical treatment and complications. They report the cases of two patients who developed sympathetic alterations with hand edema and vascular changes (Raynaud phenomenon), and propose an explanation which they name «sympathetic denervation». This is the only complication of their series and it occurred during the immediate post-operative period, coinciding with removal of immobilization of the wrist on the 22nd post-operative day.
carpal tunnel syndrome; median nerve; post-operative complication