Nationals’ Patterson seeking outside help

Washington Nationals pitcher John Patterson, out for nearly two months because of a slow-to-heal nerve injury in his right elbow, is seeking treatment on his own in Toronto that apparently isn’t approved in the United States.

After visiting four doctors in Missouri, Texas and California last week -- a trip Patterson arranged to learn what is causing the problem -- Patterson will undergo a series of injections in Canada, according to the Nationals.

Asked why his opening-day starter is going out of the country for medical treatment, Nationals Manager Manny Acta said, “It’s because that treatment is not approved here in the States yet.”

Patterson and his agent made the decision to seek the unspecified treatment. The team would not elaborate on what type of injections the right-hander would receive or why he couldn’t get them from a team physician or another doctor in the United States.

“The treatment is based on shots, injections,” Acta said. “Until he’s done with all that treatment, we don’t know” what will happen next.