Surgical relief of causalgia with an artificial nerve guide tube: Successful surgical treatment of causalgia (Complex Regional Pain Syndrome Type II) by in situ tissue engineering with a polyglycolic acid-collagen tube.

Two patients with causalgia associated with allodynia and finger contracture were treated surgically with a bioresorbable nerve guide tube made from polygycolic acid and collagen: the injured segment of the digital nerve was resected and the resulting gap (25 and 36mm) was bridged with the tube. In both cases, a neuroma was found on the injured nerve and many sprouting branches were. After reconstruction, the causalgia and allodynia disappeared and movement of the fingers recovered during the following 6 months.