--is that such surgeries are indicated, and have the best results, for those whose neuropathy can most definitely be traced to compressive issues, without any other attendant causes. As such, they are analagous to spinal laminectomies/foraminotomies which are designed to get mechanical pressure off of nerve roots (this causes the form of neuropathy referred to as radiculopathy).

But--and this is an important caveat--many neuropathic symptoms may be due to the so-called "double-crush" phenomenon. This involves nerve damage from two different etiologies, and often at two different points along the nerve. Either one alone may not cause symptoms, but together . . .for instance, nerves somewhat damaged by impaired glucose tolerance may not cause noticeable symptoms until they are also compressed in the carpal tunnel area, at the elbow, at the tarsal tunnel, in the thigh area--there are many areas in which a nerve trunk may be impinged, and this damage adds to that from something else, and symptoms erupt. People with neurological damage from diabetes, vasculitis, gluten sensitivity are known to be very prone to compressive neural effects that add to the symptoms, and likely a lot of "idiopathic" people are as well.

In such cases, the surgery might provide symptomatic relief for a time in that it removes one of the contributing "offenders". But I would think that anyone who is a candidate for these surgeries owes it to themselves to get a very thorough work-up for other causes of neuropathy first, to see if there is a more systemic problem that needs to be addressed.