A report of 3 patients with reflex sympathetic dystrophy and literature review / 中华风湿病学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To enhance the understanding of the clinical features,diagnosis,treatment and prognosis of reflex sympathetic dystrophy (RSD).Method Three patients with RSD in PLA General Hospital were analyzed.Results In the three patients the symptoms appeared following an injury,they had severe pain,swelling,limited range of motion,vasomotor instability,skin changes,patchy bone demineralization,and increased scintigraphic uptake in the peripheral joints of involved extremities.Two of them had shouder hand syndrome and one had obvious skin thickening.The patients showed better responses after the treatrment of physiotherapy,nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs,corticosteroids and tricyclic antidepressants.Conclusion Early diagnosis is very important and appropriate treatment must be initiated as early as possible for RSD patients.