The use of nasal calcitonin in the treatment of post-traumatic algodystrophy

Calcitonin is widely used in the treatment of algodystrophy but a major disadvantage is the need for its parenteral administration. For this reason, we evaluated the effect of 400 iu of nasal calcitonin in the treatment of post-traumatic algodystrophy in a prospective randomized double-blind study. We found no demonstrable effect on the clinical or skeletal progression of the disorder using sensitive methods of measuring the response to treatment. There was, however, a small but significant hypocalcaemic response in the treatment group despite no change in the other indices of bone turnover. Possible reasons for this lack of clinical and skeletal effect are discussed.