Dupuytren's Contracture and Ledderhose Disease - a short overview

Dupuytren's contracture, also called Dupuytren's disease, Morbus Dupuytren or simply Dupuytrens, is a benign thickening of the palm's connective tissue (fascia). The disease starts with a tiny nodule in the palm. Eventually cords develop and in progressed stages the affected fingers cannot be stretched anymore.

Dupuytren's contracture in progressed stage

(extension deficit > 90 degrees)

Picture provided by A. Meinel, Dupuytren Ambulanz

When patients try to stretch an affected finger out straight, they typically feel a string under the skin -- the so-called cord, which is not a tendon but runs parallel to it. These cords are not elastic and they block further stretching of the finger. Dupuytren's contracture cannot be cured but available therapies help by slowing down the progression, and releasing already bent fingers (or at least reducing the extension deficit).

In the very early stages of the disease, it can be successfully treated by radiotherapy, but later on, needle aponeurotomy (NA) and surgery are more realistic options.

Ledderhose's disease is similar to Dupuytren's contracture but with nodules developing in the arch of the foot. These nodules can become painful or can grow to a size where they affect walking. Therapies for Morbus Ledderhose are in part similar to those for Dupuytren's contracture but different in detail due to the different functions of hands and feet.

Current therapies for Dupuytren's Contracture and Ledderhose's Disease

Important note: MATERIAL ON THIS WEB SITE DOES NOT CONSTITUTE MEDICAL ADVICE. IT IS INTENDED FOR INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY. PLEASE CONSULT A PHYSICIAN FOR SPECIFIC TREATMENT RECOMMENDATIONS.

The root causes of Dupuytren's contracture and Morbus Ledderhose are still not fully understood but we have a variety of options available for treating Dupuytren's contracture (also nicknamed bent finger, crooked finger, or old man's claw) and Ledderhose disease. Our web site offers information on the therapies below:

hand surgery

needle aponevrotomy (needle aponeurotomy or NA)

radiation therapy

collagenase

cryotherapy

and other therapies or treatments.

Our web site describes classical therapies for Dupuytren's disease (Dupuytren's contracture), such as hand surgery, but also newer forms of treatment. Therefore, this web site is subject to continuous change and we rely on information from both patients and doctors. We invite you to visit our site frequently and to give us feedback. Please feel welcome to visit our forum and help other patients by sharing your experiences!

This web site only provides information about therapies that we consider to be of value. We cannot assure you that each therapy will work in all cases, nor can we guarantee that there will be no side effects. We will always describe side effects to the extent that we know about them, but cannot accept responsibility for covering all possible side effects or dangers of a particular therapy. Furthermore, we cannot guarantee that we describe all effective therapies on our web site, nor does the fact that a therapy is not described here mean that it does not help. It may be that we have not heard of it or that we have not received sufficient scientific proof to justify including it on this site.

Audience and recent updates to this Dupuytren website

This site addresses patients suffering from Dupuytren's contracture (Dupuytren's disease) and Ledderhose disease. It also addresses doctors and provides information on available therapies and current research on Morbus Dupuytren, Morbus Ledderhose, and related diseases. We also provide a forum for patients and doctors to exchange their experiences because we consider this an additional and potentially very valuable source of information.

This site is exclusively funded by donations. It does not host or receive funding from advertising.

For the convenience of frequent visitors of this web site we are listing recent major changes and additions to this web site (a sort of bulletin board). Beyond that the last modification date is stated at the end of each page.

The Dupuytren Society and an important waiver

Dupuytren e.V., the German Dupuytren Society, is a non-profit organization (registered charity) providing information on therapies and treatments of Dupuytren's contracture (also called Dupuytren's constricture, Morbus Dupuytren or Dupuytrens) and related diseases, like Ledderhose disease (Morbus Ledderhose). Though we use our own judgment to achieve what we consider a scientific standard and are selective on what we publish, we must declare the following waiver:

Dupuytren e.V. takes no responsibility whatsoever that the statements on this web site are correct. We try our best, but our primary goal is to facilitate communication, which may occasionally include errors. We rely heavily on feedback and continuous improvement.

Dupuytren e.V. does not take any responsibility for contributions from other institutions or private patients, nor for the content of linked web sites, nor for any posts made in our forum.

Providing contact addresses of medical institutions or medical doctors does not indicate that they are the only ones who can help in this matter nor that they are the best ones. Likewise, not mentioning someone does not imply any judgment of their abilities or facilities.

 

The Dupuytren Society needs your support!

Any support for Dupuytren e.V. is more than welcome! We really need you. We appreciate any kind of support, any feedback, any comments, any help in keeping our web sites up to date or in translating them into other languages to increase public awareness, and we are extremely grateful for donations. We fund ourselves exclusively through donations, we are a certified non-profit organization, and are regularly controlled by the government. For more information on our work please click on Dupuytren e.V.

Further links

German speaking visitors are welcome to visit our German web site  www.dupuytren-online.de. - Sie finden eine deutschsprachige Version dieser web site mit zusätzlichen Informationen unter www.dupuytren-online.de