What are the risks of NA?

• It's important to be realistic: There is no one shot lifetime cure for Dupuytren's The goal is straighter fingers, more functional fingers. Stiffness, recurrence and residual lumps in the palm can be problems with either NA or surgery - it's part of the Dupuytren's disease process.
• Other problems may affect outcome - particularly arthritis and conditions which lead to a general stiffness of the finger joints. These problems aren't improved with NA.
• The most common problem with NA is that the skin of the palm may crack open when the finger is straightened. This happens in about one out of twenty procedures. If this occurs, it requres a bandage or band-aid on the palm until it heals, typically in 7 to 10 days.
• The Paris group reviewed their results of nearly four thousand NA procedures in 1995 and found a less than one percent incidence of nerve injury. Infection, bleeding and tendon injury were also reported, but in much less than one percent of the procedures.
• These figures all compare favorably with the risks associated with open procedures for Dupuytren's contracture. Infection, nerve injury or tendon injury are possible with any procedure, including NA. The risk of these specific problems with NA as performed at The Hand Center has been less than 0.2%. Statistically, these problems are over ten times more likely to occur with open surgery than with NA.