Drs. Pess and Eaton will be presenting NA to the American Hand society this September.
There will also be a presentation on use of collagenase
Link:

http://www.assh.org/AM/Template.cfm?Temp...Display.cfm&;ContentID=12788#Symposium_2__Treatment_of_Dupuytren_s_Disease__What_s_New

As those of us who have been watching know, Eaton and team (including Dr. Keith Denkler) did this earlier. While the response was encouraging not as many surgeons "got it" as many of us would have liked. The vast majority of new patients are still being told that Open Surgery their only option. They are "misinformed" at best. However, looks like Eaton is undeterred and will be back to push a little harder on the door. Persistence is called for. Longstanding medical traditions do not change easily.

The question is whether the eventual approval of Collagenase will render NA irreverent. Not irrelevant in terms of safety and efficiency, just popularity with the MDs who determine medical policy. The profit motive will have a lot to do with that. Collagenase may cost up to 10 times as much, so money will be made by someone. And it will need to be. FDA approval doesn't come cheep and millions must be recouped.

Nevertheless, for those in the know NA is the best bargain in town for treating Dup's. But will that now proven fact standup to the money machine if enough surgeons aren't on board when the injections are available?

I believe Dr. Denkler hopes that Collegenase will perhaps fill in some treatment gaps left by NA. I know we'd all like to see that, but not at the expense of the NA which is a truly amazing breakthrough for it's cost.

Thanks for the Heads Up Dr. Keith

Dr. Keith,

While the idea has been discussed here (or on the Bios site) yours is the first mention from any surgeon regarding the use of Collegenase to treat nodules. This makes perfect sense since the reduction of nodules would prevent the growth of new cords. I assume this approach would be Off Label, but once approved I'd hoped that this might be done by someone. As the fist to combine OS and NA there is apparently no Box containing your thinking :-) I guess we'll have to wait until 2010 to hear from you how well it works.

I had collagenase treatment in the recent study and it broke the cord only and straightened my finger. However, it did nothing for the nodules in my palm and in fact, I think they increased.