Since RT has been done in Germany for so long I'm wondering if German hand surgeons have accepted it as a valid treatment for early DD and are referring some patients for RT? If not, how are the DD patients getting RT in Germany? Is it the same way as the U.S. where you have to do your own thing by finding a radiation oncologist who will treat you? Is there anywhere in the world where RT is a standard treatment for early DD?

Irrespective of decades of experience with RT, trials including an untreated control group, and years of spreading the information, German hand surgeons in general are still not aware of RT for Dupuytren's or are aware but do not recommend it. Education takes its time and one generation = 30 years is probably the minimum for achieving a major change. That's the bad news and the good one is that an increasing number of hand surgeons do recognize the benefit of RT in early stage treatment and, at least in Germany, the number of clinics offering RT for Dupuytren's has increased strongly http://www.dupuytren-online.de/strahlent...e_adressen.html .

Heinrich Seegenschmiedt will give a lecture at the International Dupuytren Conference in Groningen, the Netherlands, in May this year http://dupuytrensymposium.com/ and, in this context probably even more important, also at the annual meeting of the European hand surgeons FESSH in June in Milan, Italy http://www.fessh2015.org/index.php?c=11.

Wolfgang

Tusk:

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Since RT has been done in Germany for so long I'm wondering if German hand surgeons have accepted it as a valid treatment for early DD and are referring some patients for RT? If not, how are the DD patients getting RT in Germany? Is it the same way as the U.S. where you have to do your own thing by finding a radiation oncologist who will treat you? Is there anywhere in the world where RT is a standard treatment for early DD?