Felicidad, 47 (Cantabria), cook, suffered a work accident with radius fracture, which led to a diagnose of reflex sympathetic dystrophy or Sudeck’s atrophy: “I was told that it was crazy to operate Sudeck’s dystrophy, but the result has been marvelous”

After a 14 months process, an initial treatment with plaster and her subsequent sending to the Pain Unit, the patient maintained the main symptoms that limited her work performance “to 50%”, she says.

12 months of medical leave later she returned to her job, with a picture of continuous pain. In line with the standard treatment of this form of dystrophy, the patient was medicated, in this case by axillary catheters that provide local anesthetic and blocks of the stellate ganglion, as supposed origin of Sudeck’s dystrophy, in its role as the center of the sympathetic system.

Finally, the patient placed herself in the hands of Dr. Piñal, who, after a complex work of analysis and the diagnose of the underlying pathology, applied a surgical procedure which derived in her cure.

Related content:

• Diagnosis reassessment and surgery: healing of a patient with Sudeck’s atrophy

• Patient diagnosed with reflex sympathetic dystrophy or Sudeck’s atrophy: healing by means of diagnostic correction and  surgery

• Dr Piñal: “There are many patients labeled as sick of reflex sympathetic dystrophy or Sudeck’s dystrophy who actually suffer from a pathology that we haven’t been able to identify”

• Media, TVE: Dr. Piñal discovers a procedure for the cure of cases of reflex sympathetic dystrophy

• Dr. Piñal: “Reflex sympathetic dystrophy does not exist, it is a ‘scam’, a catch-all in which to hide what goes beyond our knowledge”

• Dr Piñal: “People with alleged reflex sympathetic dystrophy have to rebel against that diagnosis and seek a second opinion”

• Editorial: I have a dream… reflex sympathetic dystrophy (RSD or Complex Regional Pain Syndrome – CRPS1) does not exist