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Journal of Hand Surgery (British and European Volume)
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Articles

A New Clinical Severity Scoring System for Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy of the Upper Limb

A. ZYLUK

From Department of General and Hand Surgery, Pomeranian Academy of Medicine, Szczecin, Poland

Correspondence: Dr Andrzej Zyluk, Department of General and Hand Surgery, ul. Unii Lubelskiej 1, 71-252, Szczecin, Poland. Tel./Fax: +48 91 425 3196; E-mail: azyluk{at}hotmail.com.

A scoring system for the clinical severity of reflex sympathetic dystrophy (RSD) is proposed. The following signs and symptoms were considered to be significant: pain, reduction of finger flexion, swelling, temperature changes, discolouration, sensory disturbances, shoulder pain and loss of movement, increased sweating, and hair/nail growth changes. One point was assigned for strong expression of most of these features, half a point for moderate expression and no point if the feature was absent. A total score of 4 points was assumed, empirically, to indicate a mild degree of RSD, and the maximum score of 10 to indicate the most severe form of RSD. One hundred and forty-six patients with RSD of the hand were classified according to this system. Seventy-four patients (51%) had a score of 4–6, 51 patients (35%) a score of 6.5–8, and 21 patients (14%) a score of 8.5–10. Use of this system will allow more precise analysis of RSD patients and facilitate comparisons between studies.

Journal of Hand Surgery (British and European Volume), Vol. 28, No. 3, 261-262 (2003)
DOI: 10.1016/S0266-7681(02)00397-2
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