Safety and Efficacy of Intrathecal Drug Delivery for Pain

Abstract

SUMMARY The practice of delivering analgesic drugs into the intrathecal space has evolved over the past several decades from a ‘last-ditch‘ therapy for intractable pain in patients with terminal cancer to a more widely applied strategy for treating patients with chronic nonmalignant pain as well. This review discusses the available safety and efficacy data of intrathecal drug delivery with a focus on device- and user-related safety issues.

Financial & competing interests disclosure

M Wallace receives research support from Medtronics, Inc., and is on the speaker bureau for AZW Pharmaceuticals. The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed.

No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.

Additional information

Funding

M Wallace receives research support from Medtronics, Inc., and is on the speaker bureau for AZW Pharmaceuticals. The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed. No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.