Analysis of Surgical Procedures on the Forearm and Hand and Their Relationship with Complex Regional Pain Syndrome: A Cross-sectional Study.

Objective  Complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) requires further understanding. Thus, the present study aimed to analyze if pre- and intraoperative factors may be related to the development of CRPS in the postoperative period. Methods  We reviewed 1,183 medical records of patients undergoing forearm and hand surgeries from 2015 to 2021. The data of interest, that is, diagnosis, incisions, synthesis material, and anesthesia, were collected, tabulated, and statistically analyzed, with subsequent calculation of the odds ratios. Results  Most patients were female, aged between 30 and 59 years, and sought the service electively (67% of the cases). The diagnoses included soft tissue trauma (43%), bone trauma (31.6%), and compressive syndromes (25.5%). During this period, 45 (3.8%) subjects developed CRPS. The statistical analysis showed that the chance of developing CRPS is twice as high in patients with compressive syndrome, especially carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS), which represented most surgeries performed in our service (24%). Two or more incisions occurred in 7.6% of the cases, which tripled the chance of developing postoperative CRPS. Gender, age, use pf synthetic material, type of anesthesia type did not statistically increase the risk of developing postoperative CRPS. Conclusion  In short, the incidence of CRPS is low; however, it is critical to know and recognize the risk factors for prevention and active screening in the postoperative period.