Dear Miserable -
By coincidence, I put up a thread yesterday regarding a new online article dealing directly with the inflamatory mechanism in CRPS. "Increased endothelin-1 and diminished nitric oxide levels in blister fluids of patients with intermediate cold type complex regional pain syndrome type 1," J George Groeneweg et al,
BMC Musculoskelet Disord. 2006; 7: 91.
http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/art...medid=17137491 and posted here at
http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/sh...ad.php?t=13221
For a couple of earlier studies by largely the same group of authors, check out the following:
1. "Evidence for local inflammation in complex regional pain syndrome type 1," Frank J P M Huygen, Anke G J De Bruijn, Martha T De Bruin, J George Groeneweg, Jan Klein, and Freek J Zijistra,
Mediators Inflamm. 2002 February; 11(1): 47–51 at
http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/art...medid=11930962 and
2. "Intermediate Stage Complex Regional Pain Syndrome Type 1 Is Unrelated to Proinflammatory Cytokines," Renate J. M. Munnikes, Christel Muis, Martine Boersma, Claudia Heijmans-Antonissen, Freek J. Zijlstra, and Frank J. P. M. Huygen,
Mediators Inflamm. 2005; 2005(6): 366–372 (as described in their most recent article, this study looked at "patients with an intermediate duration of CRPS (median 20 months) and . . . found a significant elevation of IL-6 and TNF-α in the involved extremity compared with the uninvolved extremity") at
http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/art...medid=16489257
For what is probably the best known study in the area, you can also take a look at "Changes in Cerebrospinal Fluid Levels of Pro-inflammatory Cytokines in CRPS," Alexander GM, van Rijn MA, van Hilten JJ, Perreault MJ, Schwartzmann RJ,
Pain 2005;116:213-219. A copy of the article can be downloaded from the
RSDSA Medical Articles Archive page at
http://www.rsds.org/2/library/articl...ive/index.html The article appears at about the middle of the page, under the heading "
Research," where it is listed aphabetically by author.
I hope this is helpful. (These are all free full-text copies.)
Mike