Background: The diagnosis "post-traumatic dystrophy" (PTD) was first defined with clinical and paraclinical criteria by Scola et al. in 2013.
Objectives: The objectivity and reliability of the paraclinical criteria (venous blood gas analysis [vBGA], radionuclide angiography [RNA]), and recommendations for therapy should be assessed in a prospective study.
Materials and methods: In five patients with clinical signs of post-traumatic nonbacterial inflammation of the hand, both diagnosis and a 3‑week hospital treatment were carried out in accordance with the publication mentioned above. The primary traumata (four fractures and one soft-tissue injury) were located in either the hand or the forearm. Unsuccessful outpatient treatment always led to hospital admission. One patient with severe osteopenia in the hand skeleton was treated with bisphosphonates for 6 months.
Results: All patients fulfilled the clinical and paraclinical criteria for the diagnosis of PTD. On admission, an elevated venous partial pressure of oxygen was found by vBGA in the affected hand (∆pO2 mean 22 ± 3 mm Hg) and a hyperperfusion due to arteriovenous shunts was measured using RNA (mean 75 ± 47%). The symptomatic treatment was extremely well tolerated; by the time of discharge, all patients achieved full functioning of the hand with minor loss of strength (venous ∆pO2 mean 5 ± 3 mm Hg). The osteopenia in the one patient treated with bisphosphonates showed recalcification after 6 months.
Conclusion: The reliability of clinical and paraclinical criteria for PTD were confirmed. vBGA and RNA seem to be good parameters for confirming the diagnosis of PTD. "Rubor," a symptom traditionally interpreted as "hyperemia," contradicts the paraclinical findings and leads to the assumption that the cause of this post-traumatic syndrome is microvascular dysfunction.
Keywords: Arteriovenous shunts; Post-traumatic dystrophy; Radionuclide angiography; Vascular smooth muscle; Venous blood gas analysis.