Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS) is a painful and long-lasting condition. CRPS usually causes severe, constant, burning pain in the affected arm or leg.
The cause of CRPS remains unknown. However, this condition can be triggered by damage to nerve fibers in tissue that has been injured.
Experts believe that in CRPS, nerves become overly sensitive. Painful signals become more painful. And common stimuli, such as light touch and temperature changes, also are experienced as pain.
This condition usually starts after an injury or other event. Examples include trauma, fracture, infection, surgery, stroke or wearing a plaster cast.
Often, the injury that triggers CRPS is mild compared with the pain that follows it. However, the condition also can follow more severe injury or paralysis. The pain often is not limited to the area that was injured.
This condition can occur at any age. It is relatively rare.
CRPS has been called by many other names. These include reflex sympathetic dystrophy syndrome (RSDS), algodystrophy, causalgia, shoulder-hand syndrome, Sudeck's atrophy and transient osteoporosis. There are two types of CRPS:
Although the name was officially changed from RSDS to CRPS, the name change has not been universally accepted.
Symptoms of CRPS can include:
The condition can progress through three stages. However, not everyone goes through every stage.
In the earliest stage, days to weeks after an injury, the limb can become dry, hot, red and painful. Even the lightest touch or the slightest movement can cause excruciating pain. At this point, CRPS can be mistaken for other conditions. Your doctor may not be able to confirm the diagnosis of CRPS at this stage.
Over the next few weeks to months, the skin can become shiny, thin and cool. The limb becomes mottled and purplish. There is considerable swelling. Pain worsens. The nails become brittle and can grow faster or slower than normal. As the limb becomes difficult to move, you may have more pain further up the limb. This might be related to muscle stiffness and soreness.
Some people experience other movement problems, including weakness, spasm and tremor. An affected limb can become permanently flexed or bent (contractures). In some people, the skin can become tight, dry and shriveled. The bones can become brittle because they aren't being used. The skin, muscles and joints stiffen so that the affected area cannot be moved. Some patients have less pain at this point. Once the disease reaches this point, it is extremely difficult to treat.
Your doctor will ask questions about your medical history. He or she will examine you.
CRPS is diagnosed when the following symptoms are present:
In the earliest stages, before many of these features develop, diagnosis is difficult or impossible.
In later stages, X-rays sometimes show bone loss, especially around the joints. A bone scan can help to confirm the diagnosis. But the condition cannot be diagnosed with a bone scan alone.
Two tests that evaluate nerve function may be ordered. They look for nerve damage or another cause of your symptoms. These tests are called electromyography and nerve conduction studies.
Your doctor also may recommend a diagnostic sympathetic block. This is an injection in the neck or low back. If the block reduces or eliminates pain, this can help to confirm the diagnosis.
Some physicians use other specialized tests to help diagnose this condition. For example:
Some people with CRPS improve without treatment. But getting early treatment improves your chances of pain relief.
About half of people with CRPS continue to experience pain six months after treatment was started.
There is no way to prevent CRPS because the cause is not clear.
However, physical activity or physical therapy after stroke may prevent CRPS following stroke.
And there is limited evidence that vitamin C (500 milligrams daily) may prevent CRPS following wrist fracture.
It is important to get care from health care professionals who have expertise in the treatment of CRPS. These professionals include an anesthesiologist, pain specialist, vascular surgeon, physical therapist and/or occupational therapist.
Maintaining movement is an important goal of treatment. Your doctor will likely recommend physical or occupational therapy, together with supervised exercises. Once a reasonable degree of movement is restored, an exercise routine should be started. This will help to strengthen muscles and joints, and maintain functioning.
Medications can help to manage pain. Corticosteroids and physical therapy can help to ease pain during an acute episode, but long-term results are mixed.
Medications that may help include:
A transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulator (TENS) unit sometimes can help to relieve pain. This small, battery-operated device is thought to work by blocking nerve impulses. Biofeedback also can help to control pain, blood flow and skin temperature.
Simple measures such as applying heat or cold are controversial. Applying cold might relieve pain temporarily. But ice may worsen the symptoms of CRPS later on. The response to heat also varies.
For severe pain or pain that does not respond to other treatment, your doctor may recommend a nerve block. During this procedure, an injection of a numbing agent is administered near the affected nerves or alongside the spinal column to block the nerves of the sympathetic nervous system. It usually is done as a series of three to five injections over seven to 14 days. If the numbing is effective, a more permanent procedure called a sympathectomy may be done. In this procedure, the nerves are destroyed with chemicals or by surgery.
Newer treatments include:
These treatments do not always work and may be associated with complications. But for severe cases that have not responded to other treatments, the benefits may exceed the risks.
Contact your physician if you experience the symptoms of CRPS.
The earlier the condition is diagnosed, the better the prognosis.
If treatment is started early, symptoms can disappear after as few as three months. Delayed treatment can lead to permanent bone and muscle changes.
The overall response to treatment is poor. In at least half of cases, people with CRPS are still in pain months and even years later.
American Chronic Pain Association
P.O. Box 850
Rocklin, CA 95677
Toll-Free: 1-800-533-3231
Fax: 916-632-3208
http://www.theacpa.org/
National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke
P.O. Box 5801
Bethesda, MD 20824
Phone: 301-496-5751
Toll-Free: 1-800-352-9424
TTY: 301-468-5981
http://www.ninds.nih.gov/
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