Synopsis Evaluation of outcomes after peripheral nerve surgeries include a number of assessment methods that reflect different aspects of recovery, including reinnervation, tactile gnosis, integrated sensory and motor function, pain and discomfort, neurophysiological and patient- reported outcomes. This review makes a list of measurements addressing these aspects as well as advantage and disadvantage of each tool. Because of complexities of neurophysiology, assessment remains a difficult process, which requires researchers focus on measurements best relevant to specific conditions and research questions.

Purpose Establishing minimally clinically important difference (MCID) for patient-reported outcomes questionnaires is an important component of outcomes research to understand treatment effectiveness from the patient’s perspective. For patients with ulnar neuropathy at the elbow (UNE), these assessments are vital to examine how much change in the questionnaire scores equate to patient satisfaction. Methods We calculated the change in scores of Michigan Hand Outcomes Questionnaire (MHQ), Disabilities of the Arm, Shoulder and Hand questionnaire (DASH), and Carpal Tunnel Questionnaire (CTQ) from preoperative to 3,6 and 12 months postoperatively after ulnar nerve simple decompression procedure. We used the anchor based approach of receiver operating characteristic curves to determine the MCID. Results On average, MCID of 10, 12, and 7 points were identified for pain, function, and ADL domains of MHQ. Similarly, DASH, CTQ-symptom severity scale, and CTQ-function severity scale had an average MCID of 7, 0.7, and 0.3 points respectively. At the 3, 6, and 12 months’ time-points, an MCID of 9, 8, and 13 points for pain, 12, 12, and 12 points for function, and 6, 8, and 6 points for ADL domains of the MHQ were identified; similarly an MCID of 8, 7, and 7 points for DASH; 0.4, 0.7, and 0.7 points for CTQ- symptom severity scale; and 0.3, 0.3, and 0.4 points for CTQ-function severity scale were established. Conclusion The smaller MCIDs of MHQ, DASH, and even smaller MCIDs of CTQ found in our study indicate that a small change in the scores identified satisfied patients. Simple decompression surgery for UNE produced patient satisfaction with only a small change in their questionnaire scores. The implications of this finding are that simple decompression surgery for UNE is a highly effective procedure and the outcomes questionnaires used are highly responsive, which minimizes sample size requirements for future research studies relating to UNE.