Treatment of acute reflex sympathetic dystrophy with DMSO 50% in a fatty cream

What Was Tested

The paper reports a study of DMSO (dimethyl sulfoxide, non-peptide solvent), published as a randomized controlled trial.

Acute Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy (acute RSD) was defined using a reproducible classification.

Elevated temperature of the affected extremity ("calor"), measured by the dorsal side of the observer's hand and mentioned by the patient, pain ("dolor") measured by the Visual Analogue Scale (VAS), redness ("rubor"), edema ("tumor") and limited active range of motion ("functio laesa"), all contributed to the classification system.

Who Took Part

According to the abstract, 32 patients were involved.

The age groups tagged for this paper are adults, middle-aged adults and older adults, both men and women.

How the Study Was Run

The researchers set it up as a randomized, double-blind and placebo-controlled study.

Random assignment meant chance, not the researchers, decided who got DMSO (dimethyl sulfoxide, non-peptide solvent) and who got the comparison, which limits bias.

Neither the patients nor the staff measuring them knew who was on DMSO (dimethyl sulfoxide, non-peptide solvent), so expectations could not easily colour the readings.

The comparison arm used a placebo, so changes seen with DMSO (dimethyl sulfoxide, non-peptide solvent) could be set against what happens without it.

The methods mention a period of 2 months.

What Was Measured

Elevated temperature of the affected extremity ("calor"), measured by the dorsal side of the observer's hand and mentioned by the patient, pain ("dolor") measured by the Visual Analogue Scale (VAS), redness ("rubor"), edema ("tumor") and limited active range of motion ("functio laesa"), all contributed to the classification system.

In all of these patients the primary injury was the result of a previous accident.

Topics PubMed links to this paper include Acute Disease, Administration, Cutaneous, Administration, Topical, Anti-Inflammatory Agents, Dimethyl Sulfoxide, Ointments and Pain Measurement.

What This Means in Plain Language

The paper is a randomized, double-blind and placebo-controlled study of DMSO (dimethyl sulfoxide, non-peptide solvent) in 32 patients over 2 months.

With fewer than 40 people, it is a small study, so it is better read as an early signal for further research than as a settled answer.

The publication is from 1996 (Acta anaesthesiologica Scandinavica), a journal based in England.

More context: the DMSO (dimethyl sulfoxide, non-peptide solvent) compound page, all human trials.