MLM:

Take a look at all of Eaton's before and after NA. A number of them show, by way of the marks, where he intends to rupture cords with the needle. Some are in the palm. As you can see even the *palm* can become contracted. I'm no expert, but from what I've ascertained, if by stretching a finger *or* the palm back straight you can "snap" a cord, then NA can be applied to that area. Otherwise, no.

Does disrupting a *finger* cord have an effect on a *palmer* cord? That's a good question, and one I'm likely to have answered when I see Eaton in few months. I have no idea. But at the end of the day what counts is straight fingers and hands......that stay straight, not excess Dups tissue that is not growing or causing pain. *That* is the Holy Grail here. May you find it.

Thanks Randy. The reason I pose these 'palmar' questions is that I suffer from soreness in my right palm, which is I guess a result of dup's growth on the tendons. However, so far at least, there's no contracture. It'd be great if they could NA 'em so my palm could get comfortable - but I guess they can't. I'm praying for Collagenase! - MML

Randy,

Yeah, it's a shame that all current treatments require the Dup's to have progressed to a fairly advanced contracture before action can be taken. It'd be so much better if something could be done before it reached that point.

As you say, on the face of it, there seems no reason why Collegenase couldn't be used in that way. I wonder if a seperate set of clinical trials would be necessary.

- MML

Maybe, but I doubt it. The current application of collagenase has been to inject just enough into a cord to weaken it so it can be snapped mechanically (i.e. by force). They're not using it to arrest the disease or attack the underlying biochemical problem in any way. They're very cautious about injecting more than is absolutely necessary because it could dissolve good tissue, too.

As I've posted before, I doubt we'll ever see this drug on the market and if we do, it might be more expensive than NA with no additional benefit.

Has Dr. Eaton ever commented on this?

I had the NA procedure in November, have had 6 surgeries in the last 20 yrs. Have Dupuytren's in both hands. The NA procure has stopped the progression of it gettin worse , but has now started to go down again, quite a bit. Will have to send photos to Dr.Eaton to let him see. My regular hand surgeon says that I've a very aggressive case of Dupuytrens. Good Luck to all of you.