Bone scan findings in erythromelalgia

Erythromelalgia is a rare condition characterized by attacks of intensely painful, red and warm feet and/or hands. Symptoms typically are triggered by heat and relieved by cooling of the extremities. Primary cases are due to mutations in the gene for a sodium channel expressed in nociceptive and sympathetic ganglion neurons; secondary causes include blood disorders, infections, drugs, connective tissue diseases, neuropathic diseases, including diabetic neuropathy, and malignancies. We present bone scan findings in a case of erythromelalgia in an 18 years old student, in whom the symptoms developed suddenly. No underlying disease could be demonstrated and the patient fully recovered. The scan findings were strikingly similar to those of reflex sympathetic dystrophy.