Saturday, July 24, 2010

"Sympathectomy is another animal."

Sympathectomy. This is a radical, now-controversial approach to blocking pain, and it includes extremely high risks for additional tissue damage and spread of RSD. (p.40)

Sympathectomy also potentially precludes future new treatments from working. (p.41)

A recent review article by (Johns Hopkins Hospital anesthesiologist and medical school professor) Srinivasa Raja covering all previous articles on sympathectomy showed that 10 percent of sympathectomies done for various reasons have complications. The complication rate for sympathectomy done to treat neuropathic (i.e., RSD) pain is 30 percent. A lot of these people can have a return of pain, and if they do, you can no longer do a sympathetic block to get rid of it. Then you have got these people in terrible pain that you cannot treat. And so, in my book, surgical sympathectomy is out. (p.81)

Positive Options for Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy (RSD):

Elena Juris
Hunter House, 2004