Der Hautarzt; Zeitschrift für Dermatologie, Venerologie, und verwandte Gebiete
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Case Reports
[Distal edema and hyperhidrosis of the arm. Symptoms of reflex sympathetic dystrophy (Sudeck's disease)].
Reflex sympathetic dystrophy is characterized clinically by the triad of autonomic sympathetic dysfunction, and motor and sensory disturbances of the affected extremity. Typical symptoms are distal generalized edema with cyanotic skin, pathologic function of eccrine sweat glands and diffuse dull pain. ⋯ Pathophysiologically, a functional disturbance of sympathetic nerve fibres may result in a vicious circle of blood flow dysfunction, excitation of afferent nociceptors and maintenance of sympathetic dysfunction at the level of the spinal or central nervous system. In the patient presented in this paper, sympathetic dysregulation of reflex sympathetic dystrophy was cured by means of blockades of the stellate ganglion.