Benefits and side-effects in the therapy of CRPS1 with calcitonin.

Purpose/Methods/Patients: Calcitonin is a common treatment in patients suff ering from Complex Regional Pain Syndrome Type 1 (CRPS 1), although its eff ects are being controversially discussed. In a prospective study of 24 pati ents. with CRPS 1 of the upper limb, we examined the tolerance of daily dos es of 0.5 mg human calcitonin administered subcutaneously over 8 weeks. To assess the benefit of this therapy, the patients we clinically examined eve second week. The results were compared to a consecutive group of 25 CRPS 1 patients who received only analgetics and physiotherapy. Results: With reg ard to all examined parameters (spontaneous pain, grip strength, edema, han d function, systematic temperature difference), the patients treated with: calcitonin showed an improvement during the observation time. However, a st atistically significant difference to the control group was calculated only for the reduction of the edema (P <0.01). 83% (20/24 patients) of the calc itonin-treated patients suffered from severe, mostly gastroenterological si de-effects. Hence therapy had to be discontinued in 3 cases (13%). Conclusi on: The therapy with calcitonin has the burden of numerous unpleasant side- effects and causes only a slight therapeutic improvement. Thus, calcitonin must only be prescribed with reservations for patients suffering from CRPS 1.