(Press-News.org) Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS) is a chronic and debilitating pain disorder, typically considered lifelong with limited treatment options. Now, groundbreaking research finds that early detection and effective treatment can lead to significant recovery within 18 months, offering hope to millions of people worldwide.
Led by NeuRA’s Centre for Pain IMPACT and conducted in partnership with the University of South Australia, the findings could deliver life-changing outcomes for people with CRPS, with up to 80% of patients recovering within the first 18 months of being diagnosed with the disorder.
CRPS is a multi-system disorder triggered by trauma such as surgery or fracture. It manifests with severe pain localised to a single limb, but often persists beyond typical recovery periods. Sufferers can experience issues with sweating, temperature regulation, and mobility. Women are disproportionately affected, with up to four times as many diagnosed with the condition as men.
The new study reviewed the latest advances in CRPS epidemiology, pathophysiology, diagnosis, and treatment. It found that the best approach to treatment includes education about CRPS, medicines to control pain, physical rehabilitation, and psychological support, if needed.
Lead researcher, NeuRA’s Michael Ferraro says this is a paradigm shift for understanding CRPS.
“Complex regional pain syndrome is a rare pain disorder. It’s characterised by intense pain and changes in muscle, sensation, skin, bone, and nerves, and often severely limits a person’s ability to work or engage in social activities,” Ferraro says.
“Because the disorder is so rare, there is little evidence to inform effective treatment.
“In this research we challenge the prevailing notion that CRPS is a lifelong burden.
“By reviewing and consolidating the latest developments in understanding CRPS, we’ve found that unlike previous theories, recovery is likely for most people with CRPS, and may be more likely with early diagnosis and a comprehensive treatment approach to match the multi-system nature of the disorder.
“By combining education on the condition, pain medication, rehabilitation and psychology, we can tackle CRPS from all angles, giving patients the best chance of recovery within the first 12-18 months of symptoms.”
Co-researcher and pain expert, UniSA’s Professor Lorimer Moseley says the research marks a significant milestone for understanding and treating CRPS, offering hope and new avenues for patients and healthcare professionals alike.
“This is a major step towards better understanding CPRS,” Prof Moseley says.
“While more research is needed, our review highlights that biological and psychosocial factors are involved, and successful management of the disorder should target these factors.
“The next steps will require national and international networks of researchers to test the most promising treatments in clinical trials.”
Among these intiatives is the ongoing MEMOIR study conducted by NeuRA and UniSA, an Australian Government-funded trial evaluating a medication and a newly developed rehabilitation program, with recruitment and treatment facilitated through telehealth to enable nationwide participation.
Notes to editors:
The full paper is available upon request: Michael C Ferraro, Neil E O’Connell, Claudia Sommer, Andreas Goebel, Janet H Bultitude, Aidan G Cashin, G Lorimer Moseley, James H McAuley, Complex regional pain syndrome: advances in epidemiology, pathophysiology, diagnosis, and treatment, The Lancet Neurology, Volume 23, Issue 5, 2024.
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
Media contact: Annabel Mansfield M: +61 479 182 489 E: Annabel.Mansfield@unisa.edu.au
Researchers: UniSA - Prof Lorimer Moseley E: Lorimer.Moseley@unisa.edu.au
NeuRA - Michael Ferraro E: m.ferraro@neura.edu.au
END
Breakthrough in complex pain management
80% recovery with early diagnosis and best practice treatment
2024-05-01
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
Astronomers share climate-friendly meeting solutions
2024-04-30
Carbon emissions associated with air travel to professional conferences make up a sizable fraction of the emissions produced by researchers in academia. Andrea Gokus, a McDonnell Center postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Physics in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, is advocating for a reduction of these emissions.
In a paper published in PNAS Nexus, Gokus and collaborators estimated the CO2-equivalent emissions for conference travel to all 362 open meetings in the field of astronomy in 2019.
The total is an estimated ...
Missing link in species conservation: Pharmacists, chemists could turn tide on plant, animal extinction
2024-04-30
As the world faces the loss of a staggering number of species of animals and plants to endangerment and extinction, one University of Michigan scientist has an urgent message: Chemists and pharmacists should be key players in species conservation efforts.
"Medicinal chemistry expertise is desperately needed on the frontlines of extinction," said Timothy Cernak, assistant professor of medicinal chemistry at the U-M College of Pharmacy. "Animals are dying at staggering rates, but they don't have to. Modern ...
Illinois researchers develop an AI model to reduce uncertainty in evapotranspiration prediction
2024-04-30
URBANA, Ill. – When scientists look at the Earth’s available water for ecosystem services, they don’t just look at precipitation. They must also account for water moving from the ground to the atmosphere, a process known as evapotranspiration (ET). ET includes evaporation from soil and open water pools such as lakes, rivers, and ponds, as well as transpiration from plant leaves. The difference between precipitation and ET indicates the water balance available for societal needs, including agricultural and industrial production. However, measuring ET is challenging. A new study from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign ...
Is it time to retire the best-before date?
2024-04-30
The inventors of a suite of tests that enable food packages to signal if their contents are contaminated are working to bring producers and regulators together to get their inventions into commercial products, with the goal of preventing illness and reducing food waste.
Though the tests would cost just a few cents per package, food producers are reluctant to add costs that consumers will ultimately have to bear, say the McMaster researchers behind an article published today in the journal Nature Reviews Bioengineering.
A system based on smart packaging, the researchers say, would save producers ...
An electrifying discovery may help doctors deliver more effective gene therapies
2024-04-30
MADISON — In an effort to improve delivery of costly medical treatments, a team of researchers in electrical engineering at the University of Wisconsin–Madison has developed a stimulating method that could make the human body more receptive to certain gene therapies.
The researchers exposed liver cells to short electric pulses — and those gentle zaps caused the liver cells to take in more than 40 times the amount of gene therapy material compared to cells that were not exposed to pulsed electric fields. The method could help reduce the dosage needed for these treatments, making them much safer and more affordable. The research appears April 30 in the ...
Lurie Children’s Hospital first-in-pediatrics to use technology that lights up lung cancer during surgery
2024-04-30
Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago is pleased to announce the first pediatric use of the novel fluorescent agent CYTALUX during surgery to remove lung metastases. The drug allows surgeons to better visualize cancer in the lung, as well as potentially detect additional cancerous nodules missed by preoperative imaging. This drug is FDA-approved in adult patients, but Lurie Children’s is the first-in-pediatrics to have an Investigational New Drug application with the FDA to study ...
$3.6 million to advance nuclear energy awarded to U-M
2024-04-30
Four U-M projects funded by the Department of Energy's Nuclear Energy University Partnerships program aim to make nuclear energy safer and more equitable.
The projects are designed to improve the monitoring of nuclear reactors during operation; explore the safety of an advanced modular reactor design; develop a framework for ethical, consent-based siting of nuclear facilities; and upgrade a facility for modeling radiation damage to reactor components.
Real-time radiation effects on optics
How well could optical sensors monitor future advanced nuclear reactors? Funded with $1 million, Igor Jovanovic, a professor of nuclear ...
Two UT Arlington faculty honored for outstanding research
2024-04-30
The University of Texas at Arlington is honoring two faculty for their outstanding contributions to research.
Yuze (Alice) Sun, associate professor of electrical engineering, and Venu Varanasi, associate professor in the Bone Muscle Research Center, are the 2024 recipients of the University Award for Outstanding Research Achievement or Creative Accomplishment. This award recognizes faculty members for achieving significant research or creative accomplishments during the past three years.
“Alice and Venu are truly bright stars on the faculty at UT Arlington,” ...
UT Arlington student links worm behavior to brain disease
2024-04-30
As an undergraduate student in The University of Texas at Arlington’s Honors College, Hannah Selvarathinam knew she wanted to conduct research. Near the end of her first year at UTA, the Keller native reached out to the lab of biology Assistant Professor Piya Ghose.
“Hannah has been a very impressive scholar from Day 1,” Ghose said. “She had the foresight to reach out for research opportunities very early on.”
Ghose brought Selvarathinam in to work on one of the lab’s core projects ...
Uncovering the secret of long-lived stem cells
2024-04-30
Nothing lives forever, but compared to other cells in the body, hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) are remarkably long-lived. HSCs are blood-forming cells – they give rise to rapidly dividing progenitor cells, which in turn generate hundreds of billions of cells to fulfill the daily demand of oxygen-delivering red blood cells, disease-fighting white blood cells and clot-forming platelets.
HSCs typically remain dormant within the bone marrow, yet they possess the ability to activate and replenish blood cells continuously, maintaining a relatively youthful profile throughout the life of an organism. What is the secret of ...
LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:
Older teens who start vaping post-high school risk rapid progress to frequent use
Corpse flowers are threatened by spotty recordkeeping
Riding the AI wave toward rapid, precise ocean simulations
Are lifetimes of big appliances really shrinking?
Pink skies
Monkeys are world’s best yodellers - new research
Key differences between visual- and memory-led Alzheimer’s discovered
% weight loss targets in obesity management – is this the wrong objective?
An app can change how you see yourself at work
NYC speed cameras take six months to change driver behavior, effects vary by neighborhood, new study reveals
New research shows that propaganda is on the rise in China
Even the richest Americans face shorter lifespans than their European counterparts, study finds
Novel genes linked to rare childhood diarrhea
New computer model reveals how Bronze Age Scandinavians could have crossed the sea
Novel point-of-care technology delivers accurate HIV results in minutes
Researchers reveal key brain differences to explain why Ritalin helps improve focus in some more than others
Study finds nearly five-fold increase in hospitalizations for common cause of stroke
Study reveals how alcohol abuse damages cognition
Medicinal cannabis is linked to long-term benefits in health-related quality of life
Microplastics detected in cat placentas and fetuses during early pregnancy
Ancient amphibians as big as alligators died in mass mortality event in Triassic Wyoming
Scientists uncover the first clear evidence of air sacs in the fossilized bones of alvarezsaurian dinosaurs: the "hollow bones" which help modern day birds to fly
Alcohol makes male flies sexy
TB patients globally often incur "catastrophic costs" of up to $11,329 USD, despite many countries offering free treatment, with predominant drivers of cost being hospitalization and loss of income
Study links teen girls’ screen time to sleep disruptions and depression
Scientists unveil starfish-inspired wearable tech for heart monitoring
Footprints reveal prehistoric Scottish lagoons were stomping grounds for giant Jurassic dinosaurs
AI effectively predicts dementia risk in American Indian/Alaska Native elders
First guideline on newborn screening for cystic fibrosis calls for changes in practice to improve outcomes
Existing international law can help secure peace and security in outer space, study shows
[Press-News.org] Breakthrough in complex pain management80% recovery with early diagnosis and best practice treatment