[Complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS I) in hand surgery--misfortune of fate or avoidable? The viewpoint of a hand surgeon with many years of experience in this problem].

The complex regional pain syndrome type I (CRPS I) is a complication of the healing process of the whole body, not solely a part of it (e. g., the hand), which is caused by a multiplicity of factors. My conviction that the CRPS should less be considered as a misfortune of fate but rather can be avoided in the majority of cases is based on my experience from the last 25 years. The most important prognostic factor is the time period between the first symptoms and the beginning of the therapy.