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61st Annual Meeting of the German Society of Neurosurgery (DGNC) as part of the Neurowoche 2010
Joint Meeting with the Brazilian Society of Neurosurgery on the 20 September 2010

German Society of Neurosurgery (DGNC)

21 - 25 September 2010, Mannheim

Long-term intrathecal baclofen in patients with severe cerebral spasticity

Meeting Abstract

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  • Jan Koy - Klinik für Neurochirurgie, Universitätsklinikum Dresden, Germany
  • Tobias Pardula - Klinik für Neurochirurgie, Universitätsklinikum Dresden, Germany
  • Marcus Pohl - Klinik Bavaria Kreischa, Germany
  • Gabriele Schackert - Klinik für Neurochirurgie, Universitätsklinikum Dresden, Germany

Deutsche Gesellschaft für Neurochirurgie. 61. Jahrestagung der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Neurochirurgie (DGNC) im Rahmen der Neurowoche 2010. Mannheim, 21.-25.09.2010. Düsseldorf: German Medical Science GMS Publishing House; 2010. DocP1880

doi: 10.3205/10dgnc351, urn:nbn:de:0183-10dgnc3513

Published: September 16, 2010

© 2010 Koy et al.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/deed.en). You are free: to Share – to copy, distribute and transmit the work, provided the original author and source are credited.


Outline

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Objective: The aim of the study was to ascertain the long term effectiveness of intrathecal baclofen therapy with adults suffering from severe cerebral spasticity. Up to now, there are only a few systematic investigations on spasmolytic treatment in apallic patients with cerebral spasticity.

Methods: 24 patients with severe spasticity due to traumatic, hypoxic or haemorrhagic brain injury were treated with intrathecal baclofen via a subcutaneously implanted pump system (Synchromed®). Their average age was 43 years. Follow-up was obtained after 2 years (range: 12 months to 4 years). The therapeutic effect was assessed by the Modified Ashworth Scale (MAS) and the Functional Independence Measure (FIM) were used to assess the therapeutic effect.

Results: The MAS score decreased from 3.4 ± 0.98 to 2.4 ± 0.83 showing a statistically significant improvement (p=0,008). The FIM scale showed no marked changes within the observation period. The dosage of intrathecal baclofen increased from a mean of 314 ± 154µg/d at one month after pump insertion to 583 ± 275 µg/d at 2 years post implantation. The seriousness of contractures remained constant in comparison to the initial state. The alleviation of arm spasticity showed no statistically significant correlation to the level of the tip of the spinal catheter (range: Th 3 to Th 12). The complication rate was 8.3% (one infection and one occlusion of a spinal catheter).

Conclusions: Intrathecal application of baclofen was shown to be an effective treatment in apallic patients with cerebral spasticity. To avoid the development of contractures intrathecal application should be initiated as soon as oral spasmolytic medication with accompanying physical therapy is found to be insufficient.