Sorbonne Université

Management of erythromelalgia: A retrospective multicenter study.

[Diagnosis of vascular acrosyndromes].

Vascular acrosyndromes are associated with vasomotor disorders. They may be paroxysmal, like Raynaud's phenomenon, whitening of the fingers on exposure to cold, or erythromelalgia, a painful form of erythema induced by exposure to heat. Others are permanent or semi-permanent, such as acrocyanosis, chilblains, spontaneous haematoma of the fingers, acrocholose and digital ischaemia or necrosis. Diagnosis of the type of acrosyndrome at issue is based primarily on clinical examination and history-taking. Capillaroscopy and antinuclear antibody assay are key examinations essential for distinguishing between primary and secondary Raynaud's phenomenon and connective tissue disorders. Complete blood counts, screening for thyroid dysthyroidism, and antinuclear antibody assay can help distinguish between primary erythromelalgia and erythromelalgia secondary to a systemic disease, principally myeloproliferative syndrome. In the case of acrocyanosis, spontaneous digital haematomas and typical bilateral chilblains, examinations are of no value. For the other permanent and semi-permanent acrosyndromes such as digital ischaemia and purpuric or livedoid lesions, screening for arterial or thrombotic disease is necessary.

[Congenital insensitivity to pain].

Congenital insensitivity to pain (CIP) is a rare syndrome with various clinical expressions, characterized by a dramatic impairment of pain perception since birth. In the 1980s, progress in nerve histopathology allowed to demonstrate that CIP was almost always a manifestation of hereditary sensory and autonomic neuropathies (HSAN) involving the small-calibre (A-delta and C) nerve fibres which normally transmit nociceptive inputs along sensory nerves. Identification of the genetic basis of several clinical subtypes has led to a better understanding of the mechanisms involved, emphasizing in particular the crucial role of nerve growth factor (NGF) in the development and survival of nociceptors. Recently, mutations of the gene coding for the sodium channel Nav1.7--a voltage-dependent sodium channel expressed preferentially on peripheral nociceptors and sympathetic ganglia--have been found to be the cause of CIP in patients showing a normal nerve biopsy. This radical impairment of nociception mirrors the hereditary pain syndromes associated with "gain of function" mutations of the same ion channel, such as familial erythromelalgia and paroxysmal extreme pain disorder. Future research with CIP patients may identify other proteins specifically involved in nociception, which might represent potential targets for chronic pain treatment. Moreover, this rare clinical syndrome offers the opportunity to address interesting neuropsychological issues, such as the role of pain experience in the construction of body image and in the empathic representation of others' pain.