Dupuytren's injuries

Dupuytren's contracture was named after the 19th-century French physician Guillaume Dupuytren, who described the symptoms characteristic of the injury and proposed treatment methods.

Until now, doctors all over the world find it difficult to say with certainty what provokes the development of the disease. It is only known that residents of northern countries are more likely to suffer from contracture than those in southern countries, and that Dupuytren often has a hereditary predisposition to damage. Often, the development of the disease is accelerated due to injury or surgery.

At the initial stage, dense subcutaneous nodules are felt on the palm or at the base of the ring finger and little finger, or skin indentations are visible, superficially resembling a navel. In the case of progressive contracture, joint mobility is limited due to the proliferation of scar tissue, which replaces the longitudinal fibers of palmar aponeurosis, which is how contracture itself is formed. Dupuytren's injury usually affects all fingers except the index finger, starting with the ring and little fingers, then moving to the middle, and finally to the thumb. There are common cases of damage to both hands, and sometimes to the feet. At the same time, the patient does not feel pain, feeling only constant tightness and discomfort. Dupuytren's contracture is often accompanied by pathologies such as bursitis, tenosynovitis, and Zudek's neurotrophic syndrome.

Due to the unpredictability of the disease, its treatment is not practiced in the initial stages: as long as there are only nodes on the palm, there is a possibility that the contracture will not develop further, so they are left so as not to provoke a sharp progression of the disease by surgery. If it has passed into the stage of dense scar tissue that restricts joint mobility, then the part of the aponeurosis that has degenerated into a scar is surgically removed.