Reflex sympathetic dystrophy after a burn injury.

Reflex sympathetic dystrophy (RSD) is a disease that can appear after minor trauma or operation to an extremity. The injury may vary from a simple contusion to a fracture. The prevalence of burns as a cause of RSD, within a population of 829 patients with RSD, was studied retrospectively. Prospectively, we documented the medical history, signs and symptoms of all patients with RSD, seen by our department during the period from January 1984 to 31 December 1994. Four patients had developed RSD after a burn injury, resulting in a prevalence of 0.5 per cent. Though the clinical signs of early RSD are similar to those of a (thermal) burn, alertness to recognize inflammatory signs, in combination with the increase in complaints after exercise, is necessary for early diagnosis and treatment of the complicating RSD.