Shoulder Pain Pump

Find a Lawyer in Your State

Need Help?

Contact Us Today

Call Today: 800-889-3898

I agree that submitting this form and the information contained within does not establish an attorney client relationship.

ATTORNEY ADVERTISING -
Flood Law Group, LLP
1101 Pennsylvania Avenue
Suite 600
Washington, DC 20004
(888) 334-2084

Privacy protected. All information held in the strictest confidence.

Shoulder Pain Pump Types

Surgeons have been using continuous infusion pumps to control pain after patients have had arthroscopic shoulder surgery. Some pain pumps contain a balloon filled with an anesthetic that over time deflates as it infuses the medication into the joint. Such pumps are called elastomeric devices. Other pumps work electronically or mechanically.

Benefits and Risks of Pain Pumps

A major advantage of infusion pumps is that they deliver anesthesia to the site of the pain and avoid the need for controlling pain with addictive narcotics. But, significant problems with this method have occurred.

Doctors and many patients have discovered that a major side effect of the shoulder pain pump system is causing destruction and death of shoulder cartilage. Loss of cartilage causes a painful, debilitating condition that can lead to life-long disability of the shoulder.

Although infusion pumps have been used for a long time to deliver medication to specific sites in the body, such pain pumps have never received FDA approval for delivering anesthetics continuously and directly into the shoulder joint.

In February 2010 the FDA issued a notice warning health care providers and patients about the dangers of using pumps for treating shoulder pain following arthroscopic surgery. The disabling shoulder condition resulting from this use of the pumps is called postarthroscopic glenohumeral (shoulder joint) chondrolysis (cartilage destruction), or PAGCL.

Doctors who have used these pumps or manufacturers who have previously recommended they be used for continuously infusing anesthetics into the shoulder joint are doing so "off-label," meaning without FDA approval.

Pain Pump Types and Their Manufacturers Include:

ON-Q PainBuster made by I-Flow (in its user information, I-Flow warns against using the pump in joints spaces because “some literature has shown” this use can has been followed by the development of chondrolysis although no definitive causal relationship has been established.)
PainPump 2 is made by Stryker. A mechanical device delivers a continuous flow of anesthetic.
ambIT® electronic infusion pumps are made by Sorenson Medical

Other pain pump manufacturers are DJO, Inc; DePuy, Inc.; Smith & Nephew and Breg, Inc.

In general, these pumps infuse pain medication into the shoulder joint for a period of 48 to 72 hours. It seems that when the cartilage cushioning the shoulder bones is exposed continuously to the anesthetic for this length of time, it begins to break down and die. This puts patients at risk of developing lifelong disability. These PAGCL patients may need further arthroscopic shoulder surgery or even shoulder replacement.

If you’ve suffered PAGCL following shoulder surgery and treatment via a pain pump, you be entitled to compensation. Find out how by contacting our shoulder pain pump attorneys today.

Product Liability Breaking News

"Shoulder Pain Pump Does More Harm Than Good"

According to recent reports, patients who had surgery for dislocated shoulders are saying the product they used to control the pain caused more harm than good.

Many patients have reported that in trying to ease their pain us...

» Read More

Online Lawyer Source

Lawyers & Legal News Near You

Need Legal Help?

Start Here for a Free Case Review!