Tag Archives: needle aponeurotomy

My 25 year-old son has Dupuytren’s contracture. What treatment would you recommend?

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Hi Dr. Herazy,
I came across your website while searching for more information on Dupuytren Contracture. My son had intricate surgery on his finger in June and recently noticed a small lump on the palm of his hand. It’s not painful, but the doctor said it looked like Dupuytren Disease. He is only 25 years old and I am very concerned about the future. Have you seen this before in someone his age and can he stop the progression of this disease with your products? What treatment would you recommend for someone his age? There also may be a predisposition to this as I have a painful lump on the bottom of my foot that I will be checking out with a doctor. Thank you very much.
PG

 

Greetings PG,

You are a good parent.  Once a parent, always a parent.  My youngest one of three is soon to be 38, so I know how this goes.

My guess is that you have a genetic predisposition to this excessive fibrous tissue response that your son has inherited from you.  This is made even more so if both you and your husband/wife are also genetically predisposed with families coming from Northern Europe or Scandinavia.  If this is true it would explain why some one who is so young has developed this problem.  Perhaps your son has unknowingly made himself susceptible with other factors that increase the odds for Dupuytrens:  diabetes, cigarette smoking, alcoholism, and prolonged hand stress  like with manual labor.  I also notice that many serious musicians who play piano or guitar seem to develop DC more than the average population.  Any of these might explain this problem developing so early in his life. 

I have seen this before in people in their mid-20s and it is usually accompanied by factors as I have explored above.

I would recommend the largest and most aggressive treatment he can sustain for at least 3-4 months of faithful and diligent work.   If this problem is to respond at all to Alternative Medicine methods the treatment approach must be significant to make an impact on his condition.  Please read Can I treat Dupuytren’s contracture naturally without surgery or drugs?       Dupuytrens is a tough problem.  Half efforts are usually a waste of time.  Allow me to explain why I think someone such as your son should be extremely interested – far more than most all other people – in avoiding surgery and getting natural conservative treatment to increase his ability to eliminate his hand nodule.  

Hand surgery for Dupuytren’s contracture is not a cure; any good surgeon will tell you that needle aponeurotomy, palmar fasciectomy or Xiaflex injection are just a temporary measure; the Dupuytren’s contracture problem will always recur – it is a matter of when the recurrence will develop, not if.  When someone in his 60s or 70s develops DC and has surgery, the Dupuytren recurrence factor is not as important because frankly at that age this person might not live long enough to develop the recurrence and have it evolve over a few years to the point that a second surgery is important to them.  Many elderly people get their first DC surgery and just ride out the effects of the recurrence as they try to ignore a growing hand problem.  But with a 25 year old person all of this strategy is changed.

A young person has a lifetime to not only develop one recurrence of Dupuytren contracture, but several or many.   Some people can have a recurrence in just just 2-3-4 years and a few have recurrence in a year or less.  With each surgery recurrence usually is made to come more quickly; with each hand surgery the rate of recurrence increases.  It is as though the irritation and instability created by the surgery speeds up the recurrence phenomenon.    Many times after a few surgeries are done it does happen that eventually amputation is the only viable option that remains. 

With someone in his mid-20s this can be a great problem, since there are so many wonderful years that lay ahead.   For this reason it is my opinion your son should do absolutely everything possible to avoid entering upon this slippery slope.  I suggest that your son start as soon as possible to see if he can increase his natural ability to remove this foreign fibrous palm lump.  As with anything in healthcare (like Dupuytren’s hand surgery) there are no guarantees this will work, but when you consider the fact that his approach is without side effects, that in almost 11 years we have not had one report of recurrence after successful treatment, and that surgery can also be used at a later time if  necessary.

I suggest he does some reading on the DCI site to learn how this approach is done.  Let me know if you have any questions.  TRH

Can this natural Dupuytren treatment reverse the bad effects of needle aponeurotomy and Xiaflex injections?

Posted on by STL314

I was diagnosed with Dupuytren’s in 1994. I had a palmar fasciectomy in 2005 on the left hand which failed and resulted in amputation of my little finger in 2008. In 2011 I had a more extensive palmar fasciectomy on the right hand which has also failed. The little and ring finger of my right hand are fully contracted and the ring finger on my left is about 30% contracted and all are getting worse. Do you have data on how your treatments can reverse this condition and that of surgery, needle treatments and Xiaflex?

Are your treatments accepted by insurance companies? Mine, Molina, even denied covering Xiaflex, which I am fighting.

Thank you.

PS: I am very familiar with DMSO having used it on horses for years and would be open to trying it.

 

Greetings,

Sorry to hear of your bad results with Dupuytren’s hand surgery and Xiaflex injections.  Unfortunately, your experience is more common than what you might imagine.  Please see Dupuytrens Surgery Did Not Go Well   and When to have Dupuytren surgery?     Worsening of Dupuytren’s contracture is not uncommon after DC hand surgery, regardless if your Dupuytren’s surgery was initially successful or not.

As I have repeatedly written here on this DCI website, I am not able to produce data and research results like a multi-billion drug company that controls patient drug intake and has the ability to monitor outcomes.   I can only report what people tell me after they have been on their program for a while.

For every 10-12 reports of success and positive results while following a reasonably aggressive DCI treatment plan I get one report of failure or lack of positive results.  This is a good ratio, especially when you consider how people like to complain as opposed to give compliments and offer thanks.

However, you ask about reversal of bad results of Dupuytren surgery.  That is something you should have asked your various surgeons before they removed so much normal tissue from your hands, and injected enzymes to dissolve tissues in your hand.  Unfortunately you are asking too much of your body to think that taking any kind of superior nutritional program could possibly make new tissue grow back after a surgeon removed it.  It simply cannot be done.  At this point I think you should be interested in simply making the best of a very bad situation.

Since you have had such poor results with what you have tried so far I suggest that you be most conservative from this point forward.  I have never had anyone tell me of any adverse or unexpected results from the work we do here.  Please consider trying this approach to see if you can at least slow down some of the contraction that is going on in your hands.  At this time I think you do not have much to lose.  TRH 

Can needle aponeurotomy be done for Peyronie’s disease?

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Needle aponeurotomy for the hand is all I see online. I am a Kaiser Permanente subscriber and even at that, I don’t see anywhere online where needle aponeurotomy is performed on a penis…Got any suggestions? Do you know of any Urologist in my medical plan who does needle aponeurotomy for Peyronie?

Sincerely,

Martin Carroll, Jr.

 

Greetings Martin,

Well, you are certainly an adventurous person.

Needle aponeurotomy is a type of surgery done on the palm of the hand to surgically reduce the cords that develop in  Dupuytren’s contracture.   It is surgery performed by inserting a needle under the skin of the palm, and then blindly slashing and tearing at the cords and contracted fascial tissue since the skin is never opened by the surgeon so he/she never actually sees the tissue that is being cut and torn.  The purpose of this procedure is an attempt to weaken and reduce the cords under the skin, so that during the operation the surgeon eventually is able to break or snap the weakened Dupuytren cords.  The recurrence rate for this procedure is fairly high, about a year or two faster than conventional hand surgery.

There are many hand surgeons who are proponents of this technique, and others who are not.  No surgical technique is perfect, and they  all carry risks.   

This same technique of using a large gauge needle to act as a cutting tool is already being done to reduce the Peyronie’s plaque while the actual slashing and tearing of the tissue is not observed during the penis surgery.   This technique of weakening the Peyronie’s plaque with a needle tip is called the Leriche technique for Peyronie’s disease.  When done for Peyronie’s disease it is not called an aponeurotomy since there is no aponeurosis in the shaft of the penis.  To coin a phrase it could be called something like a Needle Tunicotomy, since it is the tunica albuginea of the penis that would be surgically cut  by the needle tip and left in place, but I have never seen that term published anywhere since i just made it up.  To read more about this procedure click on Leriche technique for Peyronie’s surgery

I must wonder why you are interested in exposing yourself to the risks of any surgical procedure four your penis if there are less risky non-invasive Alternative Medicine options that you have not explored?   TRH

Should I have a third Needle Aponeurotomy surgery for my Dupuytrens?

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Dr. Herazy,

I have dupuytren contracture in my little finger on my left hand and have had needle aponeurotomy done on it twice.   It is aggressive and I was considering the procedure a third time  and just heard about you.  I’d like to try an aggressive treatment with you instead–have I missed an opportunity to improve my situation because of the needle aponeurotomy sessions (because of  scar tissue,etc)?

I’d like to speak to you about it if possible – I have a third needle aponeurotomy session scheduled two months from now (28 Nov) that I’d like to cancel…the contracture comes back quickly and the finger is a bit thicker.  Any advice??

Thank you in advance for your attention to this,

Scott Riviere

 

Greetings Scott,

Needle aponeurotomy is well known for rapid recurrence of Dupuytren contracture.   Although you did not say how quickly your Dupuytren’s returned after your first and second hand surgery, it is not uncommon for the palm lumps and cords to come back back in two years or so, with the rate of recurrence increasing after each NA surgery. 

The increased thickness of your finger could be due to chronic swelling or edema that is the result of scar tissue that prevents normal drainage of blood and lymph fluid out of the hand.   Or, it could be directly due to scar formation from the internal cutting that is part of the NA technique.  Either way, this is a frequent side effect of hand surgery for Dupuytrens.   

The rapid recurrence of Dupuytren contracture after needle aponeurotomy and scar tissue build-up are two of the nasty consequences of this kind of hand surgery simply because, as you have found out, the technique not only solves nothing but it can leave you worse off than before it was done.      

My advice is that you be extremely cautious about undergoing a third needle aponeurotomy.   What has your surgeon told you about the possible outcomes of a third NA if the first and second did not help you and resulted in undesirable side-effects?    Did he/she say why you should expect the results of this third surgery to be any different than the first two?   Did he/she warn you about further acceleration of the rate of recurrence with each succeeding NA procedure?   Did he/she warn you about the increasing risk of possible injury to blood vessels, nerves and tendons that occurs with each succeeding hand surgery?    Did he/she warn you that these hand surgeries would eventually have to stop?   Did he/she speculate what the eventual condition of your hand might be if you had 4-5-6 surgeries, and how useful, painful, numb or flexible your hand might be?   did he/she discuss with you what your options might be when you can no longer have additional NA surgeries?

Please be even more cautious if you are told that this next surgery will be more extensive to reverse or clean up the problem scar tissue that resulted from the others.  I have never heard of any  “clean-up surgery’ that goes well for the patient; usually it goes in the opposite direction and creates more problems.   Mind you, I am not saying to not have the surgery and I am not saying to not listen to your doctor, I am just saying to use the highest level of caution and prudence when you make this decision.

Time will tell how effective an aggressive Alternative Medicine treatment plan might be to help your current condition.  I have worked many times with people who have a history of past hand surgery who find their problem worse than when they started; some make great improvement, while most make at least a small to moderate amount of change; very few do not at least make some small level of improvement.   I cannot answer you directly about how effective natural therapy might be for you, but considering your options I suggest you consider undergoing an intense round of therapy for 2-3 months to determine how much change your body can make.   You will only know for sure when you give it your best effort.   

I would be pleased to speak to you about your Alternative Medicine treatment options.   The important thing is to not make matters worse at this point.   Simply call me at 847-670-8800.     TRH

 

 

 

Can Dupuytren contracture recur after I have hand surgery?

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Recurrence of Dupuytren contracture is common and impossible to predict

In general, Dupuytren contracture recurrence means that is spite of hand surgery, the shortened, thickened tissue appears to return to the area of previous surgery, but actually is a continuation of the extension or progression of the disease into tissue previously unaffected.  Many surgeons openly speculate that Dupuytren contracture surgery accelerates the rate and extent of the disease progression.

In broad terms, the rate of Dupuytren’s recurrence after needle aponeurotomy (palmar fasciotomy) is considerably higher than for traditional open hand surgery (palmar fasciectomy).

Avoid surgery if possible with natural Dupuytren treatment

Any type of hand surgery done to release the contractures of Dupuytren disease can eventually result in the return of more contractures.  This recurrence if followed by another hand surgery can result in the return of more contractures eventually.  While this cycle of surgery and reappearance of more contractures proceeds, the patient is exposed to the potential risks of hand surgery each time it is done: permanent numbness, reduced finger movement, reduced hand strength, reduced sensations and pain.

To avoid this cycle the patient should consider the use of a brief therapeutic trial of Alternative Medicine as a conservative and essentially risk free option that could make surgery unnecessary.

Dupuytren’s surgery, even when done well, can have bad unintended consequences as well as stimulate the recurrence of additional nodule and cord formation in the palm.  Since 2002 this website has suggested that anyone with Dupuytren contracture should first consider conservative treatment options before attempting irreversible surgery.  To learn about Alternative Medicine self-management, please see Different Way of Looking at Dupuytren Contracture Treatment

What is Dupuytren contracture recurrence?

The wide range of recurrence rates represent only gross estimates because there is no formally accepted definition of this term, so what characterizes a reappearance of Dupuytren contracture varies from one study or doctor to the next.  Recurrence of Dupuytren contracture can be:

  1. A finger or hand that received a prior Dupuytren surgery had to be operated on again for any one of a variety of reasons.
  2. The condition of a finger or hand worsened after hand surgery, without evidence of even initial improvement.  Sometimes the worsening is determined to be any degree of flexion deformity greater than prior to surgery, and sometimes must be a 5-10 degree increase.
  3. The condition of a finger or hand was initially good after Dupuytren surgery, but after time some degree of finger flexion returned to that finger or hand.  Sometimes the return is determined to be any degree of flexion deformity greater than the level of correction initially provided after surgery and sometimes it must be a 20-30 degree increase greater than the level of correction initially provided after surgery.

“The greatest French surgeon of the 19th century,” Guillaume Dupuytren, battled with the problem of reappearance of this disease after surgery. He experimented with a variety of tactics and methods to minimize the return but none were totally successful, just as it is today.

How often does Dupuytren contracture come back after hand surgery?

The general consensus is that after having conservative surgery by needle aponeurotomy, 50% of patients see a return of the same or worse contracture just three years later.  But after having more invasive open hand Dupuytren surgery, 50% of patients will notice a reappearance of the same or worse contracture five years later.  It seems that Dupuytren contracture will tend to come back over time to the same 50% group, but for needle aponeurotomy patients it happens much sooner.

In 2011 the partial fasciectomy is still the most common surgery for Dupuytren contracture.  In this operation the diseased tissue is completely removed and perhaps parts of the palmar aponeurosis might also be excised.  In 1990 McGrouther reported after this kind of surgery anywhere from 2 to 63% of surgery patients will have their Dupuytren tissue changes  reappear, while in 2007 Schwartz reported 44% recurrence after these same surgeries.

MedScape News Today reported in February of 2011 that contracture recurrence rates range from 27% to 80% after palmar fasciectomy (open hand surgery), and are highest  when this technique is used on  the PIP joints of the fingers. This same Medscape commentary reported 65% to 85% contracture problems recur after palmar fasciotomy (needle aponeurotomy).

Little information for laypeople about Dupuytrens returning after hand surgery

Many patients research on the web or elsewhere for information about Dupuytren contracture surgery.  Usually they find little information explaining that the palmar nodes and cords often   reappear a few years, sometimes as soon as one year, after surgery.  While attempting to learn about Dupuytren surgery from a medical website – and recurrence in particular – the reader will often encounter only a single sentence that mentions the word “return” or “recurrence,” with rarely any discussion or statistics to explain the scope or frequency of the problem.  A large medical website promoting palmar fasciectomy or needle aponeurotomy might only comment, “After surgery, a therapy program of massage, wound care, exercises and night time splinting is important to get the best possible result and prevent recurrence.”

While it can be said that such a website does inform people about the possible return of Dupuytren contracture after surgery, the usual mention is so vague and casually presented that a potential surgical patient will not understand the rather high rate at which the nodules and cords come back after being surgically removed.  With limited information being the norm it is difficult for anyone to develop a clear understanding of how often, how quickly, and how problematic is this return of the Dupuytren’s contracture problem after undergoing a surgical release of the constricted fingers.

It is almost as though the popular medical information sources are reluctant to reveal that while Dupuytren surgery can improve the palm and finger contractures for the short term, the results are somewhat temporary and have no beneficial effect on the eventual progression of the disease.

This would explain why over the years the majority of people I encounter through the Dupuytren Contracture Institute are completely surprised and unprepared when they have a reappearance of their hand contractures after surgery; most thought that once they had the  hand operation their problem was solved and would not come back again.  Over and over I learn these people were not told about Dupuytren’s recurrence by their surgeon, or that the idea of needing a second operation was presented as a genuine rarity.  It is a serious problem when patients cannot provide informed consent for their hand surgery because they have not been given adequate information about the post-surgical return of Dupuytren nodules and cords.

Final comment, Dupuytren reappearance after hand surgery

In 1964 Weckesser stated. “In general, the longer the follow-up period [after Dupuytren’s disease surgery], the lower the percentage of good results.”  This means, of course, that surgery for Dupuytren’s contracture does not stop the disease process or prevent its return, but only provides a temporary break from the contractures. This would not be too bad if the time between surgeries was longer or if side effects, or complications from surgery did not make the problem worse for some patients over time.

Better to avoid the first hand surgery if possible.