Complex Regional Pain Syndrome

Core Knowledge in Orthopaedics: Hand, Elbow, and Shoulder

Volumn , Issue , 2005, Pages 255-259

  Collins, Evan D ^a  

^a BAYLOR COLLEGE OF MEDICINE   (United States)

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[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 85159469774     PISSN: None     EISSN: None     Source Type: Book    
DOI: 10.1016/B978-0-323-02769-4.50021-4     Document Type: Chapter

References (23)

1. JA Evans (1947) Reflex sympathetic dystrophy; report of 57 cases. Ann Intern Med 26 417-426. Classic review article on reflex sympathetic dystrophy, including diagnosis and treatment in the author's experience of 57 cases.
2. M Stanton-Hicks, W Janig, S Hassenbusch, et al. (1995) Reflex sympathetic dystrophy: changing concepts and taxonomy. Pain 63 127-133. This classic article redefined the “taxonomy” of RSD into CRPS (complex regional pain syndrome) type I and type II to help eliminate confusion in the literature. Type I becomes synonymous with RSD and type II with causalgia. The term SMP (sympathetically mediated pain) was also found to be a useful descriptive term.
3. H Gellman and ED Collins (2002) Complex regional pain syndrome in the upper extremity. Orthopaedics St. Louis: Mosby Summary of CRPS using the new definitions and classification. Diagnosis and treatment are discussed.
4. PR Wilson (1997) Post-traumatic upper extremity reflex sympathetic dystrophy. Clinical course, staging, and classification of clinical forms. Hand Clin 13 367-372. This article focuses on classifying RSD clinically into sympathetically maintained versus sympathetically independent. Sympathetic blockade is found to be useful only in the former. Other treatments are discussed.
5. S Bruehl, RN Harden, BS Galer, et al. (2002) Complex regional pain syndrome: are there distinct subtypes and sequential stages of the syndrome? Pain 95 119-124. This study suggests three distinct subtypes of CRPS rather than sequential progression.
6. M Stanton-Hicks, R Baron, R Boas, et al. (1998) Complex regional pain syndromes: guidelines for therapy. Clin J Pain 14(2), 155-266. Describes an algorithm for the treatment of CRPS including self-management techniques, treatment modalities, and functional rehabilitation.
7. JM Arnold, RW Teasell, AP MacLeod, et al. (1993) Increased venous alpha-adrenergic response in patients with reflex sympathetic dystrophy. Ann Intern Med 118 619-621. This study examined 11 patients with RSD and showed a consistent hypersensitivity in their veins (compared to controls) to adrenergic agonists.
8. WJ Oyen, IE Arntz, RM Claessens, et al. (1993) Reflex sympathetic dystrophy of the hand: an excessive inflammatory response? Pain 55 151-157. More patients with early RSD had positive indium-111 IgG scintigraphy than patients with late RSD. These findings suggest inflammation was present more often in early RSD and may play a role in its development.
9. K Christensen, EM Jensen and I Noer (1982) The reflex dystrophy syndrome response to treatment with systemic corticosteroids. Acta Chir Scand 148 653-655. Randomized study that looks at treating patients with RSD with oral prednisone versus placebo. Among the 13 patients in the study, 75% were clinically improved in the 12-week period versus 20% in the placebo group.
10. PN Soucacos, LA Diznitsas, AE Beris, et al. (1997) Reflex sympathetic dystrophy of the upper extremity. Hand Clin 13 339-353. This review article discusses the complexity of RSD and outlines five clinical subtypes. Early diagnosis and treatment are emphasized.
11. H Gellman and D Nichols (1997) Reflex sympathetic dystrophy in the upper extremity. J Am Acad Orthop Surg 5 313-322. Review article summarizing the various useful diagnostic and therapeutic modalities.
12. SE MacKinnon and LE Holder (1984) The use of 3-phase radionuclide bone scanning in the diagnosis of reflex sympathetic dystrophy. J Hand Surg 9A 556-563. Notes diffuse increased tracer uptake in the delayed image (phase III) of bone scans was diagnostic for RSD, with sensitivity of 96% and specificity of 98%.
13. F Kozin, LM Ryan, GF Carerra, et al. (1981) The reflex sympathetic dystrophy syndrome (RSDS) III. Scintigraphy studies, further evidence for the therapeutic efficacy of systemic corticosteroids, and proposed diagnostic criteria. Am J Med 1 23-39.
14. JP O'Donoghue, JE Powe, AG Mattar, et al. (1993) Three-phase bone scintigraphy. Asymmetric patterns in the upper extremities of asymptomatic normals and reflex sympathetic dystrophy patients. Clin Nucl Med 18 829-836. Three-phase bone scans of 61 asymptomatic patients were randomly mixed with 17 studies of patients previously diagnosed with RSD. The sensitivity for RSD was unacceptably low at 29%.
15. N Hendler, S Uematesu and D Long (1982) Thermographic validation of physical complaints in “psychogenic pain” patients. Psychosomatics 23 283. Thermography (as a sympathetic measuring tool) was found to be of value in several cases by providing the diagnosis of a pain syndrome in individuals who had been mislabeled with psychogenic pain.
16. H Gellman, RR Eckert, MJ Botte, et al. (1988) Reflex sympathetic dystrophy in cervical spine cord injured patients. Clin Orthop 233 129-131. Ten percent of patients with spinal cord injury were diagnosed with RSD, some of whom were effectively treated with stellate ganglion blocks during rehabilitation.
17. SS Reuben, EA Rosenthal and RB Steinberg (2000) Surgery on the affected upper extremity of patients with a history of complex regional pain syndrome: a retrospective study of 100 patients. J Hand Surg 25 1147-1151. This study suggests that a postoperative stellate ganglion block may be beneficial in a patient with a history of prior CRPS undergoing surgery.
18. HK Watson and L Carlson (1987) Treatment of reflex sympathetic dystrophy of the hand with an active “stress loading” program. J Hand Surg 12 779-785. The “stress loading” program has been used effectively for treatment of RSD over the past 20 years. The advantages of the program are its effectiveness, simplicity, safety, and noninvasiveness.
19. CF Hobelmann and AL Dellon (1989) Use of prolonged sympathetic blockade as an adjunct to surgery in the patient with sympathetic maintained pain. Microsurgery 10 151-153. Use of prolonged sympathetic blockade with an axillary catheter allowed patients with a history of RSD to safely undergo surgery for treatment of an associated nerve injury.
20. RJ Schwartzman, JE Liu, SN Smullens, et al. (1997) Long-term outcome following sympathectomy for complex regional pain syndrome type 1 (RSD). J Neurol Sci 150 149-152. A retrospective study of 29 patients with CRPS type I (RSD) who underwent endoscopic transthoracic sympathectomies. All seven patients (100%) who had undergone sympathectomy within 12 months of injury, nine of 13 patients (69.2%) who had undergone sympathectomy within 24 months of injury, and only four of nine patients (44.4%) who had undergone sympathectomy more than 24 months after injury achieved permanent (>24 months) symptom relief.
21. GA Mellick and LB Mellick (1997) Reflex sympathetic dystrophy treated with gabapentin. Arch Phys Med Rehabil 78 98-105. First clinical study to show efficacy of gabapentin in treating patients with refractory CRPS.
22. GA Mellick and LB Mellick (1995) Gabapentin in the management of reflex sympathetic dystrophy. J Pain Symptom Manage 10 265-266. Similar to the 1997 study by the same authors but with a larger cohort of patients.
23. H Gellman, MC Pian-Smith and MJ Botte (2000) Acupuncture: alternative modalities for pain management. Instr Course Lect 49 559-563. Acupuncture was effective in treating CRPS refractory to conventional treatment.