Happy Birthday, Dupuytren! It may not seem that long ago, but Guillaume Dupuytren was born just 242 years ago today on Oct. 5, 1777. Dupuytren disease goes by his name because of the lecture he gave and the surgery he performed for this condition at Hôpital-Dieu in Paris on the 5th of December 1831, just […]

I just returned from the 2019 Global Genes Rare Advocacy Summit with the Rare Champion of Hope award in the category of science. It was one of the most exciting and inspirational meetings I’ve attended, filled with successful disease advocates, brilliant researchers, and leaders in genomic and advocacy technologies. What I learned there will change […]

Why isn’t there a drug for Dupuytren already? You might hear that surgeons don’t want a Dupuytren cure because it’s so profitable – but take it from a hand surgeon: if Dupuytren disappeared today, surgeons would be happier than patients: no one will miss Dupuytren. So why isn’t there a drug to slow down or […]

On July 10th and 11th, the Dupuytren Research Group went to Washington DC. We visited offices of Congressional representatives and other organizations to raise awareness about the impact of Dupuytren disease and the need for federal funding of Dupuytren research. Right now, there are no federal funds directed specifically for Dupuytren research – not at […]

Is Dupuytren disease common or rare? I recently attended the Rare Drug Development Symposium in Philadelphia. Why? Is Dupuytren really a rare disease? Yes and no. Mild Dupuytren is common but very severe Dupuytren is rare – in the same way that cats are common but chimeric cats with crazy colors are rare. What does […]

There are many reasons to know about Dupuytren disease. Ten of them are on your hands. When Healthgrades.com wanted to know more about Dupuytren disease, they reached out to the Dupuytren Research Group. See the Healthgrades Dupuytren review Dupuytren’s Contracture: 10 Things Doctors Want You to Know featuring Dupuytren specialists on the Dupuytren Research Group […]

Currently, there are no government grants for Dupuytren research. See for yourself: We’re working to change this. You should, too. If you have an idea you want to work on to help jumpstart government funding for Dupuytren Research, let us know! Charles Eaton MD

Dupuytren biology has a lot of overlap with wound healing biology. One description of Dupuytren is that it’s like the body is trying to heal a wound that isn’t there. I used to worry that any treatment described as “promoting” or “accelerating” wound healing might be exactly the wrong thing to do for Dupuytren or […]

There were a number of responses to the last blog post. Annie Stratton wrote something so insightful I’ve included it with permission at the end of this post. The last post used the analogy of war, the war on Dupuytren. That seemed reasonable for several reasons – the importance of strategy and tactics, the concept of […]