Dangers Of Local Anesthetic Pain Pumps After Surgery
The Pain Pump Law Blog has posted an article about problems associated with the use of local anesthetic pain pumps after surgery.
In 2004, the FDA published an article that summarized 40 injuries that were reported due to pain pump use after surgery. The injuries consisted of things like wound infection, tissue necrosis and cellulitis. "45% of the surgeries were orthopedic, typically total knee replacements. 20% were for podiatric surgeries, including bunionectomies, plantar fasciotiomies, and others."
The local anesthetic Bupivacaine, also called Marcaine, was used in all injury cases.
The consequences of these adverse events were typically severe and required intervention and additional medical and surgical treatment. The authors’ review of the literature found little had been written to support a causal link between pain pumps and the complications that had been reported to the FDA. Therefore, the authors’ conclusion was tentative and stated the reports may represent sentinel events, i.e., an early warning that is representative of a widespread problem, or alternatively, these may be isolated incidents.
Before pain pumps were commonly used, local anesthetics were administered in small doses and harm to tissue was more rare because "cells damaged by local anesthetics typically regenerate and surgical pain and dressings may have masked such harm." But pain pumps put in a much higher concentration and dosage of medication, thus magnifying the possibility of tissue damage.
