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The Dupuytren Symposium is coming!

As tomorrow’s deadline for abstract submission nears, internet connections are heating up at command central for the 2010 International Symposium on Dupuytren’s Disease. The symposium syllabus looks very exciting, with some amazing new reports. Session topics have solidified as: The Myofibroblast; Genetics and Demographics; Disease Concepts; Collagen and Collagenase; Surgical

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Dupuytren’s Review

Despite being a visible, obvious problem, Dupuytren’s is difficult to understand, like the Jimmy Buffet line “so simple – like the jitterbug – it plumb evaded me”. It is helpful to review the basics on a regular basis to keep a clear perspective. Here is a great review for hand

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Needle Release of Dupuytren’s: 2010 Manual of Technique

Percutaneous fasciotomy for Dupuytren’s contracture is an old procedure, but was reinvented by Dr. Lermusiaux in Paris in the 1980s, who used a small needle rather than a scalpel. This modification allows the procedure to be performed using almost no anesthesia, which gives an unprecedented safety margin: the patient can

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Fifty years of Dupuytren’s Patients Reviewed

One of the more puzzling things about Dupuytren’s is the variation in demographic data. Taking away the variation in results from different surgeons doing different operations, one would expect a standard pattern of who is at risk, what conditions are associated. Not so. A review of nearly 3000 Dupuytren patients

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Management strategies for Dupuytren’s

The management options for people with Dupuytren’s can appear as confusing as the biology. This review provides a nice overview of Dupuytren’s disease and a practical decision tree approach to manage hands affected by Dupuytren’s. It’s worth a read: http://www.dupuytrenfoundation.org/DupPDFs/2006_Bayat_1586.pdf

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Homeopathy for Dupuytren’s

HH Reckeweg (1905-1985) in Germany developed the Disease Evolution Table of homeopathic medicine. In this system, Dupuytren’s contracture is classified as a mesenchymal-connective tissue cellular-degeneration phase disease. This should be the starting point for homeopathic physicians to begin developing a homeopathic cure for Dupuytren’s. See where Dupuytren’s fits on the

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Machines to Stretch Dupuytren’s Cords

There is not yet a perfect solution for PIP contractures from Dupuytren’s Disease, or for PIP contractures in general. One approach has been to use temporary skeletal fixation devices to slowly lengthen Dupuytren’s cords and scar tissue. The collagen bundles in Dupuytren’s cords don’t actually stretch: they remodel, disconnecting crosslinks

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Tissue markers for Dupuytren’s

Is it possible to predict the course of Dupuytren’s in an individual? Who will need surgery? Who will have rapid progression or an early recurrence after surgery and who won’t? Family and personal history provide general trends, but that’s all. Several studies have correlated the cellularity of nodule tissue and

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