Treatment of Complex Regional Pain Syndrome, a Long-term Follow-up

Complex regional pain syndrome, CRPS, is an uncommon but often very disabling chronic pain syndrome characterized by, beside pain: sensory disturbances, peripheral autonomic changes and inflammatory features. The diagnosis is subdivided in CRPS type 1 where no nerve injury has been identified, and CRPS type 2 when a major nerve injury has been verified. A combination of exposure in vivo, a form of behaviour therapy where the patient is gradually confronted with avoided movements and activities, and interventions directly targeting a hypothesized cortical reorganisation is an interesting novel approach for treating CRPS. The present study consists of (1) a qualitative interview study with 10-15 subjects that has received this form of treatment, in order to better understand their experience and effects of the treatment, and (2) a case series with long-term follow-up of 3-5 subjects that received the treatment för 5-8 years ago, in order to study the long term effects of the treatment.