Mary Beth,
The topic of Fasiotomies was discussed under the topic "Needle Aponevrotomy" from 11-12-2002 to about 11-20-2002. I read those comments with interest and learned quite a bit. The discussion was not totally civil, however.
Good luck in your search for information. I am interested in what you find. I have sent for many of the papers listed on PubMed and am waiting for more at this time on interlibrary loan.
Sean

Hi Mary, there was a lot of posting regarding the few viable alternatives available in the US. There used to be a poster using the name Gary Evans (now believed to be Sean) that was hostile and derogatory to anything not offered by the US medical establishment. Like Sean, he offered no specifics, made grandiose claims without any accompanying documentation, and generally acted as if he were the moderator of this forum. It was nice while he was gone & a real disappointment he came back.

Jim,
Thanks for the website.

Wendy,
I have never heard of Dr. Robert Baron, but I have
Dr. Ketchum saved in favorites. Try:
http://www.lynndketchum.com/drketchum.htm
You should be able to pull it up that way, I just checked
before I posted and got it. His experience seems very
impressive to me. Good luck,
Mary Beth

I had one of my periodic visits to Stonybrook University to ckeck the progress of my collagenase treatments(last one was a year ago). I raised the subject of fasciotomy with Dr. Badalamente. She did not recommend this treatment as an alternative to the fasciectomy. Her reasoning was; since the cord is only ruptured with a small gap separating the cord and the nodules, which produce the collagen cells still remain, chances are the gap will be bridged by new cells and contracture will resume, especially in aggressive cases of DC. My rationale for going the otomy route is this is potentially a stop gap measure until the collagenase procedure is approved by the FDA. As I have stated before, I believe this is the procedure of the future, but it is still AT LEAST, two years from approval (its was also two years from approval four years ago). Dr. B is making final revisions for the phase III program before submittal to the FDA (almost 2 years since the end of phase II trials!). I am disheartened by the slow progress of an obvious miracle treatment. (I have made about 30 trips in the last 4 years to Stonybrook from Delaware @ 12 hr round trip, by a combination of car/train/taxi, so you can see I determined to avoid fasciectomy surgery until all other alternatives are exhausted). The question I didn't ask was what is the downside of having fasciotomy? Can it be done repeatedly without adverse affect? There appears to be enough folks on the east coast in the NYC to Wash corridore. I would be useful to continue share whatever positive info we get. If anyone has a discussion regarding the fasciotomy procedure with a hand surgeon, I would love to hear the details.

Juli