Hi,

Does anyone have any advice on how I can reduce the swelling/inflammation of my hand with Dupuytren's disease?

I have a dupuytren's node at the PIP joint of my 4th finger. There is quite a bit of soft tissue swelling around the node so much so that it actually prevents me from closing the finger into a fist. An MRI has shown tendonitis but 2 hand surgeons are unable to explain why I have tendonitis so I think it is part of the Dupuytren's disease. My blood work was negative for diseases like lupus or rheumatoid arthritis, gout, etc. The same thing happened to my middle finger resulting in a slight contraction and is now happening to my index finger. It is slowly becoming difficult to make a fist from the swelling around the fingers. I have tried ibuprofen, naproxen, ice, turmeric, NAC, Vit E, PABA, magnesium, and a medrol dose pack(oral steroid for a week) none have helped.

I have had the first week of radiation treatment about 3 weeks ago but it has not helped the soft tissue swelling. The swelling around the 2nd and 4th fingers actually began on the day before I began my radiation treatment and has progressively gotten worse. I don't think the radiation made it worse as it only got worse in the 2nd and 4th fingers but not the third. I think the disease was just starting in those fingers and maybe the radiation was too early to stop it? Maybe the second week of treatment will help.

I am wondering if anyone has tried a longer course of oral steroids or other steroid sparing agent such as methotrextae for the inflammation?

or if anyone has any advice on reducing the swelling/inflammation?

Thank you for your reply. I do not think it is tendonitis in the traditional sense. I have read that Dups is an inflammatory disease and I think this is the inflammation that accompanies Dups when it is active. I believe that if we could block this inflammation perhaps we could block the progression. It seems some people develop Dups without pain or swelling so maybe their inflammation is subclinical. This is just my opinion only. I am considering an intralesional injection of steroid into the nodule in hopes that this could decrease the size of the nodule and decrease the inflammation while I am awaiting second week of radiation treatment in the hopes that it will not contract so that the radiation has a chance to work.