Topics and Cases - Pain Pump
Pain pumps are a method of drug delivery that allows direct delivery of anesthesia to the spinal nerves, joints, or area of inflammation. The pain pump system contains both a pump and a catheter, both of which are subcutaneously implanted in the patient’s soft tissue around the abdomen or affected joint.
However, the pain pumps have caused serious non-repairable damage to shoulders to many patients. If you or a loved one is using a pain pump, read on for facts about the product and the litigation surrounding it.
Facts about Pain Pumps:
- Shoulder pain pumps have been particularly problematic in those patients who have received high doses of lidocaine to the shoulder joint for post-operative pain relief. The pain pumps are disposable pumps that deliver controlled doses of anesthetics to a surgical site for up to three days after surgery. The condition is known as postarthroscopic glenohumeral chondrolysis, or PAGCL, and is characterized by a degeneration of the cartilage surrounding the joint. There are no known treatments to remedy this condition aside from shoulder replacement surgery.
- More than 500 lawsuits are pending against the companies that manufacture, market or distribute the pain pumps, including Stryker, DJO Inc., I-Flow Inc., BREG Inc. and others.
- Recent studies and an FDA alert have identified pain pumps as a likely cause of joint pain and severe cartilage damage, primarily in the shoulder but possibly in other joints as well.
Litigation News:
- By early August 2009, more than 300 personal injury lawsuits had been filed across the country in federal and state courts by patients with shoulder chondrolysis following the use of intra-articular pain pumps.