Salford doctors awarded grant to investigate rare but crippling disease
Doctors in Salford have been awarded a grant of £39,382 from leading medical research charity the Arthritis Research Campaign to investigate a rare but often crippling rheumatic condition.
Reflex sympathetic dystrophy (RSD) is a complex pain syndrome, which is difficult to diagnose and treat, and can develop after fractures and other injuries. It leads to painful swelling and burning pain, usually of the hand and wrist, or ankle and knee, along with temperature changes and sweating. In extreme cases, amputation of a limb is necessary.
Now a team at the Rheumatic Diseases Centre at Hope Hospital in Salford, led by senior lecturer and leading RSD expert Dr Ariane Herrick is to spend the next 12 months trying to understand more about the disease.
They also plan to re-establish an RSD Clinic at Hope Hospital, to improve patient care and provide vital infrastructure for their research projects.
"RSD is extremely difficult to treat, and we do not understand why some patients develop this complication of fractures and other injuries, whereas others make full and uncomplicated recoveries," explained Dr Herrick.
"We believe that changes in very small blood vessels (the microcirculation) may be a key factor. We aim to examine the microvessels in affected and unaffected limbs in patients with RSD, and compare the results with healthy people. We will also measure the oxygen supply to limbs affected by RSD. If it is low this will be further evidence that impaired blood flow is an important part of the condition."
If the team finds measurable abnormalities, they will undertake further studies to examine the effects of treatments aimed at correcting the disease.
Dr Herrick said that she hoped a multidisciplinary approach would help their work at Hope Hospital. Dr Herrick's own particular interest is in blood flow aspects, while colleagues Dr Chris Spanswick, an anaesthetist and director of the Manchester and Salford Pain Centre, and orthopaedic surgeon Glynn Andrew both have an interest in RSD. Dr Maureen Thorniley, from UMIST, will provide the expertise in studies of tissue oxegenation technical support.
- Free copies of the Arthritis Research Campaign's booklet on RSD are available from the ARC, St Mary's Gate, Chesterfield, Derbyshire, S41 7TD or from the About Arthritis section of this website.
