Dupuytren's disease / Dupuytren's contracture
What is Dupuytren's disease?
Symptoms of Dupuytren's disease
Causes of Dupuytren's disease
Risk factors for Dupuytren's disease
Conventional medical treatments for Dupuytren's disease
Prevention / remedies / cures / treatment for Dupuytren's contracture
References
What is Dupuytren's disease?
Dupuytren's disease (also known as morbus Dupuytren) is a thickening of connective tissue in the palm of the hand. In more severe cases it progresses to Dupuytren's contracture, when one or more fingers bend (contract) into the palm and you cannot straighten them.
About 1 in 6 men in the UK over the age of 65 have some degree of Dupuytren's contracture. Most cases occur after the age of 40, although it can develop in younger adults. In middle age about ten times more men are affected than women, but by the age of 80 the gender distribution is about even. It is most commonly found in people of European descent.
Symptoms of Dupuytren's disease
Dupuytren's disease is most common in the palm of the hand and on the palm side of the fingers. Less frequently, thickened tissue occurs under the skin in other parts of their body, including the knuckles, the soles of the feet, and the penis.
It starts with a thickening of some of the connective tissues under the skin of the palm. If you feel it with your fingers it is like bony lumps. Dupuytren's disease often starts with nodules in the palm of the hand and can later extend to a cord in the finger. It mainly occurs under the skin but above the tendons, where it forms into lumps and bands of thick tissue. This abnormal tissue is similar to scar tissue that forms following a wound.
In later stages you may develop a contracture (bending) of one or more fingers. Usually it affects both hands. The affected finger(s) contract towards the palm and you cannot straighten them fully. The ring finger is usually affected first, followed by the little finger and then the middle finger. The index finger and the thumb are usually spared. It usually takes years for the condition to develop and progress to a contracture.
Dupuytren's contracture is not usually painful. You can feel bony lumps, but they are not painful unless you press them. The main problem is that as the disease develops you cannot use the affected fingers properly as it reduces your ability to grip objects. It is also unsightly and unattractive.
Causes of Dupuytren's disease
Most doctors maintain that the cause of Dupuytren's disease is not known, and this is what they are taught. It is not associated with work environment, vibrating tools or manual work.
- Genetic. It tends to run in some families and it is more common in Scandinavian and northern European countries. It is also widespread in some Mediterranean countries (Spain and Bosnia) and in Japan. 60% to 70% of those afflicted have a genetic predisposition to Dupuytren's contracture.
- Nutrient deficiencies, especially iodine deficiency (see remedies below).
- Toxic accumulation. Dupuytren's disease often occurs in conjunction with liver diseases.
- Pharmaceuticals such as phenytoin.
Risk factors for Dupuytren's disease
- Diabetes.
- Epilepsy.
- Alcohol addiction/dependence.
- Liver disease, particularly liver cirrhosis.
- Injury to the hand may trigger the condition, especially in someone who is genetically prone to develop the condition.
Conventional medical treatments
Doctors will recommend treatment if you cannot place your hand flat on a table top, or if your hand's function is significantly affected. A specialist may offer non-surgical or surgical options to try to restore hand function and prevent progression of the disease.
Non-surgical options include splinting or stretching, local steroid injections, collagenase injections, and radiation therapy (usually X-rays). These options have side-effects, are not very effective, and do not tackle the root cause of the ailment. (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
Surgical treatments for Dupuytren's contracture include needle fasciotomy and open fasciotomy. (Fasciotomy is cutting the thickened tissue.) Needle fasciotomy (also called needle aponeurotomy or closed fasciotomy) is a quick, minimal-intervention procedure. The specialist pushes a fine needle through the skin over the contracture. The surgeon then uses the sharp bevel of the needle to cut the thickened tissue, using the needle like a saw or plane under the skin. However, as the specialist cannot see the end of the needle there is a risk of damage to nearby nerves and blood vessels. Needle fasciotomy does not remove the thickened tissue but leaves the debris in place. It is not suitable for severe contractures, and the contracture returns in about half of cases within 3-5 years. This procedure is only suitable where the contracture is not close to important nerves in the hand. Open fasciotomy is the more commonly done procedure, when the overlying skin is cut open to expose the thickened tissue and cut it out.
Both procedures are done under local anaesthetic in an outpatient clinic.
Prevention / remedies / cures / treatment for Dupuytren's contracture
In most cases Dupuytren's disease causes little interference with the use of the hand and does not require treatment. Treatment is needed only if the normal function of the hand is affected - or is likely soon to become affected.
In about 10% of cases, the condition improves or disappears on its own.
- Stop fuelling the Dupuytren's with a high sugar, high refined carbohydrate diet. Eliminate all sugar including sweet fruits, dried fruits, and every food that has sugar added to it. See a similar diet at candida recovery diet.
- Iodine. A sufficiency of this essential mineral (at least 100 times more than is required to avoid goitre) flushes out toxic halogens bromine, chlorine and fluorine, and helps the body to pass heavy metals like mercury. Iodine sufficiency is essential for the treatment of Dupuytren's disease. The best way to take iodine is through the skin (transdermally) and it may be rubbed directly into the skin over the Dupuytren's contracture.
- Magnesium is an effective treatment for Dupuytren's disease, halting and even reversing its progression. It is important that it is taken transdermally (rubbed on the skin over the Dupuytren's contracture) rather than orally (as pills or capsules).
- Boron. Taken in the form of borax, this wonderful remedy not only assists with Dupuytren's disease, but also prevents and reverses arthritis and many other ailments.
- Toxin removal. See boron and iodine above. See also remedies that improve the health of the organs of toxin removal, particularly the liver, but also the skin, lymphatic system, kidneys and general body health. Remedies to improve liver health - see Glibert's syndrome.
- Increased cholesterol, providing sufficient raw material for the body's own production of steroidal hormones.
- DMSO (dimethyl sulfoxide).
- MSM (methylsulfonylmethane).
- Copper in organic form.
- Vitamin C.
- Vitamin E. Pills and capsules are not recommended (they seldom are, in Grow Youthful). Rather, eat vitamin E-rich foods like egg yolks, fresh raw extra virgin olive oil, almonds, brazil nuts, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds and hemp seeds.
- See details of remedies recommended by Grow Youthful visitors, and their experience with them.
References
1. Seegenschmiedt MH, Olschewski T, Guntrum F.
Radiotherapy optimization in early-stage Dupuytren's contracture: first results of a randomized clinical study.
March 2001. International journal of radiation oncology, biology, physics 49 (3): 785-98. doi:10.1016/S0360-3016(00)00745-8. PMID 11172962.
2. Keilholz L, Seegenschmiedt MH, Sauer R.
Radiotherapy for prevention of disease progression in early-stage Dupuytren's contracture: initial and long-term results.
November 1996). International journal of radiation oncology, biology, physics 36 (4): 891-7. doi:10.1016/S0360-3016(96)00421-X. PMID 8960518.
3. Betz N, Ott OJ, Adamietz B.
Radiotherapy in early-stage Dupuytren's contracture. Long-term results after 13 years.
Strahlenther Onkol. 2010 Feb;186(2):82-90. Epub 2010 Jan 28.
4. Thomas A, Bayat A.
The emerging role of Clostridium histolyticum collagenase in the treatment of Dupuytren disease.
Ther Clin Risk Manag. 2010 Nov 4;6:557-72.
5. Hurst LC, Badalamente MA, Hentz VR, Hotchkiss RN, Kaplan FT, Meals RA, Smith TM, Rodzvilla J.
CORD I Study Group, Injectable collagenase clostridium histolyticum for Dupuytren's contracture.
N Engl J Med. 2009 Sep 3;361(10):968-79.
6. Morsi Khashan, Peter J. Smitham.
Dupuytren's Disease: Review of the Current Literature.
Open Orthop J. 2011;5 Suppl 2:283-8. Epub 2011 Jul 28.