At the NIH Clinical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, we are conducting a clinical evaluation protocol that includes patients with RSD. We specifically are seeking patients with RSD in one limb but not in the opposite limb, in order to determine, once and for all, whether and how RSD actually involves abnormal functioning of the sympathetic nervous system.The crux of the protocol in RSD patients is two-fold: we do sympathoneural positron emission tomographic (PET) scanning of the affected and unaffected limb, using the novel imaging agent that we developed, 6-[18F]fluorodopamine; and we measure regional rates of spillover of norepinephrine, the chemical messenger of the sympathetic nervous system, into the venous drainage of the affected and unaffected limb.
Dr. David S. Goldstein
Chief, Clinical Neurochemistry Section
CNB, DIR, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke
Ms. Barbara Squiller, Nurse Practitioner, NINDS
Phone 301 496-2103
Fax 301 480 0736
Also, please note that The Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy Network is unable to answer your questions about the study and asks that you use the contact information above to ask your questions.