Reflex sympathetic dystrophy is a common posttraumatic pain syndrome for which no reliably effective method of therapy has been found.
Oral therapy has been attempted with steroid, tricyclic antidepressant, beta-blocker, and antiseizure medications, none of which are predictably helpful.
Multiple invasive treatment, including sympathetic blockade and intravenous regional local anesthetic, reserpine, or guanethidine blocks, have been employed, but again with inconsistent success. Transcutaneous nerve stimulation is effective in
some
patients but aggravates symptoms in others.
Following a report of the use of subarachnoid block in the treatment of reflex sympathetic dystrophy, a symptom that is characterized by vasospasm and cold intolerance, we experienced the ability of subarachnoid block to relieve the symptoms of
reflex
sympthetic dystrophy.
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