Clinical Dimensions Of Neuraxial Drug Therapy

Abstract

On-going pain can destroy on quality of life, limitations imposed by living with chronic pain may mean that a activities such as work and hobbies, even little things that once brought satisfaction pleasure, and self-esteem may only be memories. Regaining quality of life is one of the goals of physicians who attempt to treat chronic pain. Pain signals go from the site of injury, through the spinal cord to the brain where the signal is encoded as "pain" then the brain sends the interpreted signal back through the spinal cord to the site of injury. When that signal is blocked or scrambled the message is not received as "pain" at the injury site. Oral opiate medications as a treatment work for some people by altering the message send to and from the brain. For others, doses enough to relieve pain, may result in confusion grogginess, over sedation, and other side effects. When attempts to increase quality oflife and to manage pain with medication is unsatisfactory, the physician may recommend intrathecal pain therapy. This may be effective for pain that is caused by certain condition, including failed back syndrome, arachnoiditis, osteoporosis and cancer multiple systems of intrathecal medication delivery one currently available for clinical use. Development of new technologies and new therapeutic agents will make chemical neuromodulation a more established means of pain management possibly decreasing the need for neurodestructive procedures in the future. Intrathecal pumps are mechanical devices used to deliver medications directly into the area of the spinal cord. These devices consist of a computerized pump, a reservoir and a catheter. The reservoir can be filled with various medications including opioids and