2010 Rachel Tobias Pain Research Young Investigator Award
By Marie-Christine Ross-Huot, Project Investigator

The Rachel Tobias Pain Research Young Investigator Award is granted annually
to a postdoctoral fellow or resident with an interest in CRPS research.

Project Summary

Despite evidence that CRPS-I patients have vascular abnormalities that reduce blood flow in muscle, most investigations assessing vascular function in these patients have only measured blood flow in skin. We will use a novel technique that assesses muscle blood flow by determining the oxygenation of the muscle tissue both before and after exercise in the limbs of CRPS-I patients and healthy
volunteers. We expect that the reduction in muscle oxygenation after exercise will be enhanced in CRPS-I limbs, but not unaffected limbs, and that this measure of muscle oxygenation will be a powerful new tool for the diagnosis
of CRPS-I. We also expect that, as muscle oxygenation is reduced in CRPS-I limbs, there will be increased markers of oxidative stress that can be measured either in the saliva of CRPS-I patients or in the limbs using a noninvasive technique. Showing that oxidative stress depends on reduced muscle oxygenation will increase the diagnostic value of each measure, as well as providing new clues about the cause of CRPS-I. Thus, ischemia associated with reduced muscle tissue oxygenation may cause the generation of free radicals that perpetuate vascular abnormalities, which leads to pain and further ischemia.

RSDSA Review. Volume 23(2):1.