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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

What must be done to end Dupuytren disease?

Did You Know These Dupuytren Facts? Did you know? Today, each child of a parent with Dupuytren has a one in four chance of developing Dupuytren. Did you know? Today, there’s no practical way to test if a treatment can prevent Dupuytren. Did you know? Today’s approach to Dupuytren treatment is the same as it was in the 1800s: wait for a bend, […]

The AmazonSmile program donated to charitable organizations for purchases made through Amazon.com. Sadly, Amazon reversed its course and discontinued this program in February 2023 for Dupuytren Research Group and most of the nonprofits benefiting from this program. Thanks for your prior support of Dupuytren Research through AmazonSmile! Charles Eaton MD

Dupuytren and Fear of the Unknown Boopuytren! Here’s a common Dupuytren script. A person finds something unexplained in their palm. They see a hand surgeon, who tells them “You have Dupuytren disease.” “There’s nothing to do now.” “Come back when you can’t put your palm flat on a tabletop.” First, disappointment: the doctor did …nothing! (and […]

Measuring Dupuytren What’s the best way to measure Dupuytren disease impact? Finger angles? Dexterity performing hand-related activities? Subjective or self-reported surveys? It turns out that Dupuytren is difficult to pigeonhole. People often compensate for some loss of motion without being aware that they are. Unless the fingers are really bent, angle measurements don’t correlate with […]

Dupuytren. In English, the word Dupuytren is unfamiliar. It’s hard to spell and strange to pronounce (DOO-pa-tren) – and not just for English speakers. In Denmark, it’s called Kuskefingre (Coachman’s finger) because Dupuytren’s first description involved the fingers of a man who drove a horsedrawn coach – a coachman. The reason that the word isn’t […]