Pain Pumps

A pain pump will allow pain medication to get to the site of the pain directly, whenever it is needed. Also known as an intrathecal pump implant, a pain pump is the size of a hockey puck. It’s inserted under the skin and stops pain signals from reaching the brain.

Candidates for Pain Pumps

Pain Pumps are usually recommended if other forms of conservative treatment fail. Typically, pain pumps are for patients who are dependent on pain medication or those who would not improve with surgical intervention.

Pain pumps can also be used to help treat pain caused by other medical conditions that cannot be treated surgically.
Considerations

Patients could feel discomfort at the incision site immediately following the procedure. Swelling and pain could continue for a couple days.

You will need regular doctor visits to maintain and refill the pump.

These pumps are intended to last three to five years and can be programmed with an external unit.

Over time the catheter to the pain site could be dislodged or damaged if the patient is too active. It may need to be repositioned if that happens.
Benefits

IMPLANTATION PROCESS

A trial pain pump will be placed first. The doctor will want to see how the patient responds to the treatment before committing to it long term.

During this procedure, the patient is given local anesthesia and the catheter is connected to a temporary pump. If the temporary implant is successful and the pain decreases, a permanent pump will be implanted.

Procedure

For the permanent pump, general anesthesia is used as the temporary implant is taken out and the permanent one replaces it. A catheter is placed in the intrathecal space, which is the area around the spinal cord filled with fluid. The catheter is attached to a little pump generally implanted in the abdomen. The pump can be programmed to dispense a measured amount of medicine, to be determined by your specialist.

The medication can vary and may be more than a single type. Morphine and other opioids or pain relief are commonly prescribed as well as local anesthetics, which address neuropathic pain. Pumps are programmable for patient preference and are refilled once a month with an office visit, where the specialist refills the pump reservoir.

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