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Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (reflex sympathetic dystrophy syndrome)

Complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) is a chronic pain condition that is believed to be the result of dysfunction in the central or peripheral nervous systems. Typical features include dramatic changes in the color and temperature of the skin over the affected limb or body part, accompanied by intense burning pain, skin sensitivity, sweating, and swelling. CRPS I is frequently triggered by tissue injury; the term describes all patients with the above symptoms but with no underlying nerve injury. Patients with CRPS II experience the same symptoms but their cases are clearly associated with a nerve injury.

CRPS can strike at any age and affects both men and women, although most experts agree that it is more common in young women.

What treatments are available?

Because there is no cure for CRPS, treatment is aimed at relieving painful symptoms so that patients can resume their normal lives. Therapies that are often used include: Physical therapy, Psychotherapy, Sympathetic nerve block, medications, surgical sympathectomy, spinal cord stimulation, and intrathecal drug pumps.

See also: Chronic Pain Source: U.S. National Library of Medicine and the National Institutes of Health