Dear No Name and Sean,

You must be careful not to imply that a persons rate-of- progression can be altered by NA or surgery - it's simply not so. Neither treatment can affect the rate at which the body produces the build up. The only difference a person may see is a change in rate-of-relapse because surgery removes diseased tissue where as NA does not....but...here's where personal choice comes in...DC is different in all people so for some....many...NA may be all that is ever required for their hands....so there is no point in having surgery when none is needed.

The beauty of NA is that you can have it over and over and over wiht no fuss or scaring....but not so with surgery...there is scaring right from the begining.....and past a certain point they use words like 'skin graft'. Personally we want a buffer/first line of defence between ourselves and that path...NA fits the bill.

Like I've said before, we view NA as a *FIRST* line of defence in the treatment of DC but... not the only line of defence. No sense in killing a fly with a hamer if you don't have to.

Anon

Fair enough.

Anon

Sean,

Unquestionably, your outcome is *exactly* what OS aims for. Undoubtedly there are others who have had similar results. Also, the fact the limited fasciectomy did exactly what it is designed to (stop the progression in it's tracts) is terrific. But you've done the research, so you *must* know how fortunate you are, being on the extreme plus side of the statical averages, given where you started.

Eaton: "For the Proximal interphalangeal (PIP) joint contractures, the realistic expectation is *improvement*, not *perfection*. PIP contractures due to isolated cords in the fingers have been reported to improve an average of 50% after surgery"

His referance: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=3968392&dopt=Abstract

Strickland JW, Bassett RL.

"This article describes the isolated occurrence of Dupuytren's pathologic fascial cords within digits of the hand. Thirty-seven cords were found in 32 patients with nearly half (45.6%) occurring in digits other than the small finger. Almost all patients (97.3%) had other clinical evidence of Dupuytren's disease. Cords were either single (83.8%) or double (16.2%) and originated from the periosteum at the base of the proximal phalanx in conjunction with adjacent ligaments and intrinsic tendons.........The average loss of extension of the proximal interphalangeal joint that resulted from these cords was 46 degrees, and surgical excision of the involved cords resulted in an *average* improvement of 24 degrees (53%). <END>

I started at 45 degrees and was improved by OS to about 20, so I'm apparently just your Average Joe. You, Sean, are not. But I can certainly see your motivation to consider OS again should you, as you assume, eventually have need. All of us go with what works for us as individuals.

Dear Sean,

In your post to me you explained that your DC was dormant- then became aggressive, and is now dormant again; I just wanted to clarify that these processes happened because of your body mechanisms - not surgery - as some people might have mistakenly thought you were putting forth - that's all.

Anon

at least until they find the right enzyme