Background & Aims

Complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) is a disease associated with continuous and spontaneous pain with idiopathic pathogenesis. The diagnosis of this disease mostly involves clinical symptoms and signs. Therefore, the lack of a specific test makes its definite diagnosis difficult. Recent studies have reported inconsistent findings that do not clinically validate the usefulness and objectivity of laboratory diagnostic tests for CRPS. In this study, we evaluated the clinical efficacy of CRPS diagnosis using infrared thermography, 3-phase whole body bone scan, and quantitative sudomotor axonal reflex testing (QSART).

Methods

A total of 32 patients with CRPS underwent infrared thermography, 3-phase whole body bone scan, and QSART. Anticipation of diagnosing CRPS was mad with the combination of 3 clinical instruments which are infrared thermography(t), 3phase whole body bone scan(w), and QSART(s). We used logistic regression to draw the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve for the outcome and compared the areas under the ROC curve (AUC).

Results

Among the suspicious CRPS patients, actual incidence of the disease was 68.75%. The AUC values were 0.882, 0.927, and 0.936 in the ts, tw, and tsw groups, respectively. When we compared tws model to tw and ts model respectively, there were no significant differences.

Conclusions

Infrared thermography, QSART, and 3-phase whole body bone scan are clinically relevant in CRPS diagnosis. Performing all three tests yielded the highest clinical diagnostic value.

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Presenting Author

Suyeon Shin

Poster Authors

Jiyong Lee

MD

Chungnam National University Hospital

Lead Author

Youngkwon Ko

Chungnam National University Hospital

Lead Author

Suyeon Shin

Chungnam National University Hospital

Lead Author

Eunhye Park

Chungnam National University Hospital

Lead Author

Topics

  • Assessment and Diagnosis