Hi all. I have been reading this forum since first being diagnosed with Dupuytren's a few weeks ago. As it is in the very early stages I am anxious to have radiation treatment and have a referral to Dr. Borg in Adelaide as he was the closest specialist I could find on this site. Just in case though: does anyone know of a treating RT person in Melbourne, Australia as this would save considerable expense in travel and accommodation etc. Many thanks, Milosmum.

Hi Milosmum, I live in Victoria and Dr.Borg has done RT on both my hands in 2013. In the last 6 months I have developed ledderhose in one foot and will be seeing him again in June re RT again. He is a very nice man and I am sure you would find the trip worthwhile. You may also eligible for a travel and accomodation allowance. Good luck.

Hi , I met Dr Borg late in 2007 after having Rt in Germany ,treated by Prof Seegenschmiedt then in Essen. Unfortunately in Australia Radiotherapy in the past has been used mainly in the treatment of Cancer. Back in 07 the only listing for RT was in Perth . I found Dr Borg had an interest in the treatment of Non Malignant Disorders . As I live in Adelaide I approached him regarding the treatment of Dupuytrens and Ledderhose . He gave me his time and was well aware of the protocol used by Prof Seegenschmiedt for the treating these diseases, and was also using the Prof's.protocol in the treatment of Heel Spur. He was happy to list on the Society web page and also purchased the book written by Seegenschmiedt and others. You might contact Dr Hunter- Smith in Morington as he may have a contact in Melbourne for RT. (Listed under NA on this website.) I would email him rather than phone as you will deal with secretary. Good Luck.

Edited 05/11/15 16:21

Hi Kate, your post might be misunderstood and therefore a few comments:

Radiotherapy is most effecient in the early stage, see "radiotherapy - when to apply best?" on http://www.dupuytren-online.info/radiation_therapy.html. But many patients have a stable form of Dupuytren's with no change for years. If your disease is stable, it does not make any sense to irradiate the nodules. What would you expect gaining if the disease is already stable anyway?

In some cases radiotherapy helped reducing the pain but having pain is not a requirement for getting radiotherapy. For some patients Dupuytren's is causing pain but that's an exception. Typically Dupuytren's is painless.

Wolfgang

kate:

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Hi Milosmum. I wonder why have you decided to do RT now if your Dupytren's is at an early stage. Is it in an active stage? I was diagnosed with DD last June and too was going to do RT straightaway , but then I read on this web.site that for RT to be effective the nodules and cords should be in an active stage such as growing , being painful and so on. After that I decided to wait .

My opinion is, if you have a little nodule where recently there was none, it obviously has been growing. Good target for RT.

If you have had that nodule for years, it is stable and not a good target for RT.

In this view you can irradiate any new nodule and it will probably work. The problem is that in the majority of cases (80%?) RT is not necessary because the disease is not aggressive anyway. The question who should get RT and who not, is difficult to answer as long as we have no reliable way to predict or diagnose aggressiveness of Dupuytren's.

Wolfgang