30.03.09 - Interesting findings on inflammation in CRPS
De Mos, Huygen, Dieleman, Stricker en Sturkenboom (Erasmus MC Rotterdam) studied the influence of ACE inhibitors (used to prevent high blood pressure) on the inflammatory aspects of CRPS.
Their findings will be published in the April issue of Pain: ‘The Association between ACE inhibitors and Complex Regional Pain Syndrome’.
The angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) is involved in the reduction of certain neuropeptides that play a role in neurogenic inflammation. The use of ACE inhibitors possibly counteracts this natural defense mechanism.
A study of 186 CRPS patients showed that people that developed CRPS used ACE inhibitors more often than the controls. The association was stronger when the drugs had been used for a longer period of time or in a higher dosage.
The results are interesting, because they tell us something about the involvement of neuropeptides in neurogenic inflammation in CRPS. However, CRPS is not the effect of the use of ACE inhibitors, because most of the patients that used the drug did not get the disease. The researchers presume that ACE inhibitors may in some cases boost an existing reaction.