Autoimmunity has been suggested as one of the pathophysiologic mechanisms that may underlie complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS). Screening for antinuclear antibodies (ANA) is one of the diagnostic tests, which is usually performed if a person is suspected to have a systemic autoimmune disease. Antineuronal antibodies are autoantibodies directed against antigens in the central and/or periphera...

Intravenous Regional Anaesthesia (IVRA) has been first described in 1908 by the german surgeon August KG Bier. Although the technique was easy to perform and effective in giving surgical anaesthesia, the newer plexus block techniques largely replaced in a short time the "Bier block", because of time limitations of IVRA and safety considerations. Throughout the years modifications in procedure a...

The role of inflammatory mechanisms in the pathogenesis of CRPS is important and that makes it a target that must meet every day. Infliximab is a molecule that has been used in the management of CRPS and published case reports and two studies showing improvement in range of motion, differences in temperature and decrease pain persist even phenomena of peripheral and Central after a few months; ...

BACKGROUND Regional anaesthesia is widely used and has been considered to pose few risks once the block is established. However, life threatening problems can occur both during the establishment and maintenance phases of a regional block which require prompt recognition and management. OBJECTIVES To examine the role of a previously described core algorithm "COVER ABCD-A SWIFT CHECK", suppleme...

Reflex sympathetic dystrophy (RSD), also known as complex regional pain syndrome type I (CRPS I), is a disabling neuropathic pain syndrome. Controversy exists about the effectiveness of therapeutic interventions for the management of RSD/CRPS I. In order to ascertain appropriate therapies we conducted a review of existing randomized controlled trials of therapies for this disabling disease. Eli...

STUDY DESIGN Descriptive. INTRODUCTION The Hamilton Inventory for Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (HI-CRPS) is a multidisciplinary assessment tool under development. PURPOSE OF THE STUDY This study examined the assessment practices, beliefs and preferences of health care professionals working with CRPS to inform the content and structure of the clinician-based portion of the HI-CRPS (CB-HI-C...

Part I of this article reviewed the history, etiology and underlying mechanisms of CRPS I and II. The current article reviews the available research of physical therapy treatment interventions for patients with CRPS. As outlined in Part 1 of this article, there continues to be much uncertainty about the underlying mechanisms of CRPS. It remains challenging to develop evidence-based guidelines f...

We investigated 82 cases of upper extremity trauma which were complicated by CRPS. All of them were evaluated by thermography and laser Doppler flourometry. The cases of sympathetically dependent and independent forms of CRPS were divided. In the 49 cases of sympathetically dependent form, thoracoscopic sympathectomy was performed in 33 and paravasal sympathectomy in 16 cases. Mean VAS pain sco...

Complex Regional Pain Syndrome Type I (CRPS-I) is a debated health problem concerning its pathophysiology and treatment strategies. A 12-year-old boy and a 35-year-old woman were diagnosed with CRPS-I at different times. They had previously undergone various types of interventions with no success. After one year of follow-up and observation, DREZ lesioning operation was performed. Afterwards, b...

BACKGROUND Collaborative efforts of physicians and basic scientists are often necessary in the investigation of complex disorders. Difficulties can arise, however, when large amounts of information need to reviewed. Advanced information retrieval can be beneficial in combining and reviewing data obtained from the various scientific fields. In this paper, a team of investigators with varying bac...