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RACS ASC 2025
Complex Regional Pain Syndrome – a review of analgesia efficacy and treatment algorithms.
Poster
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Poster

Presentation Description

Institution: Sydney Hospital - NSW, Australia

Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS) is a debilitating disorder characterised by hyperalgesia, allodynia, skin colour changes, oedema, motor dysfunction and trophic changes. A consensus definition describes CRPS as “an array of painful conditions that are characterised by a continuing (spontaneous and/or evoked) regional pain that is seemingly disproportionate in time or degree to the usual course of any known trauma or other lesion. The pain is regional (not in a specific nerve territory or dermatome) and usually has a distal predominance of abnormal sensory, motor, sudomotor, vasomotor, and/or trophic findings. The syndrome shows variable progression over time". (1) CRPS typically affects the distal upper and lower limbs. Inciting events include fractures, crush injuries, soft tissue injuries, traumatic brain/spinal cord injuries and surgery. Multimodal treatment focuses on a combination of patient education, physiotherapy and pharmacotherapy. Pharmacological treatments in clinical practice are often centred on NSAIDS, opioids and neuropathic pain medications. Evidence supporting the efficacy of these medications in treating CRPS is low, particularly for opioids. This poster review’s the evidence for current pharmacological medications used to treat CRPS and summarises recent treatment algorithms proposed by international centres for treating the disorder. References 1.Harden RN, Bruehl S, Stanton-Hicks M, Wilson PR. Proposed new diagnostic criteria for complex regional pain syndrome. Pain Med. 2007. 8(4):326-331. doi:10.1111/j.1526-4637.2006.00169.x
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Dr Brendan Ennis -