RT has worked for me on both hands with relief of symptoms and some regression. Protect your hands, watch your hands closely, check out your family history and wait and see. The disease progresses in fits and starts.

Remember RT is effective where the disease is active, not when in regression. So when you feel an increase in itchy, achy tight symptoms with nodules increasing and cords developing, it may be time for RT. If left for too long after a contraction develops, it will be too late for RT and other options need to be considered.

My criteria for RT were:
Family history, father developed contractions at about my age, 2 brothers have DD

Nodules and a cord for about 10 yrs or so

A real increase in itchiness, tightness and aching in the hand

A patch of numbness on the side of the finger below the cord

A shooting pain up through that finger upon reaching for something

The last two are specific for my hand, I suspect a nodule or cord was pressing on a nerve.

I do note you have already commenced RT

I wish we could get organized feedback from those who have had RT. The jury is still out on my success (or not). The person on this website who had RT just before me reported no success and was disappointed. I would think that those doing RT would want to report to a central agency whether or not the procedure is successful, especially if it is successful. I know there are a couple of limited studies showing results. I realize that it is so difficult to put Dupuytren's "in a box" because of how random is the disease.

"Hand cancer" is the least of my concerns about RT. The big question is, "Does the cost of RT make it a worthwhile procedure?" Often there is no positive effect from RT and a person really doesn't know because the disease can go dormant without RT.

Valerie304:

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I agree! My Hand surgeon new nothing about RT and he is a well respected hand surgeon! It scared me off of RT, on top of having DD I don't need hand cancer too! ;)

RT worked on my right hand Dupuytren's nodule, Dr. T, la Jolla, CA. It needs to be done by a specialist in Dupuytren's, who knows all the ins and outs.

It will make your hand very dry and may hurt more afterward, but it works, it really does, I'm amazed and so happy, this is a medical gift to people with this horrible problem, but it needs to be done before the hand contracts and the fibroblasts are gone.

Fred