Treatment of algodystrophy using intravenous guanethidine regional block.

25 cases of algodystrophy of the hand have been treated by regional intravenous guanethidine block. Pain relief was noticed in over 2/3 of the algodystrophies in stages 1 and 2, and the patients could carry on their rehabilitation. The treatment is immediately effective easy to use, without side effects and inexpensive. Unfortunately, it is not effective on the third stage of the disease. Hannington-Kiff has reported that the treatment could also be used neuro-algodystrophy of lower limbs. The authors briefly review here the pathogenesis and the clinical findings in neuro-algodystrophy.