If you or a loved one has been adversely affected by the implantation of an intra-articular, high-volume pain pump following arthroscopic joint surgery, especially in the shoulder, you may be entitled to compensation.

Call the law firm of Elk & Elk at 1-800-ELK-OHIO for a free case evaluation if you or your loved one is experiencing pain and discomfort after having a pain pump implanted following arthroscopic joint surgery. If we take your case, you will pay nothing up front and you will pay nothing unless we resolve the case successfully for you.

About pain pump-related shoulder pain

Some recent medical journal reports indicate such implants, used to manage patients’ pain following certain procedures, are likely responsible for a condition known as postarthroscopic glenohumeral chondrolysis, or PAGCL.

The condition is marked by increasing pain in the joint area and a progressive loss of cartilage in the affected joint following arthroscopic surgery: A minimally-invasive procedure in which physicians examine and may repair damage to the interior of a joint. It is performed using an arthroscope – a variety of endoscope – which is inserted through a small incision. Arthroscopic surgery is commonly used to examine and correct torn and floating cartilage, ACL reconstruction and to trim damaged cartilage.

According to the results of a study released in the American Journal of Sports Medicine in July 2007, a number of patients who underwent arthroscopy and had high-flow, intra-articular pain pumps filled with the pain medications bupivacaine or epinephrine developed PAGCL.

This was one of the first studies of its kind and was initiated after more and more patients were being diagnosed with PAGCL and doctors didn’t know why.
An intra-articular – or inside the joint – pain pump is implanted inside the affected joint during surgery and release these pain medications directly into the joint. For the most part, they do what they are intended to do and provide swift relief to patients’ pain. However, of the 152 arthroscopic shoulder surgery patients studied in the AJSM report, 12 had developed PAGCL. The common thread between these 12 was that they had the pain pumps implanted.

The resulting pain and suffering occurred over a relatively short period of time following the implantation of the pumps.“Most patients’ initial symptoms of pain and progressive motion loss occurred by three to five months after surgery,” the ASJM report reads. “Radiographic breakdown was typically seen by five or six months.”
The report continues: “…the senior author has not seen chondrolysis in arthroscopic shoulder patients before the use of this high-flow pain pump catheter with bupivacaine and epinephrine.”

At this point, it is difficult to know how many patients are affected by intra-articular pain pump-related PAGCL. Physicians report that PAGCL causes severe pain and can trigger a lifelong disability because it affects cartilage, which is a flexible tissue that cushions joints’ bones. It acts like a “joint lubricant.” Like any machine that is poorly lubricated, our joints suffer friction damage and break down over time without intervention. Picture the gears in a car’s transmission grinding together without enough fluid. This is what can happen with PAGCL.

The AJSM article indicates symptoms of PAGCL include shoulder joint pain when the shoulder is moving or resting; increased shoulder stiffness; popping or grinding when the shoulder is in motion and a loss of strength at the joint. The condition leads to extreme pain and, occasionally, chronic arthritis.

According to a recent article published by Newsinferno.com, patients diagnosed with PAGCL are usually subjected to more surgery, but it does not always correct the problem and provide complete relief. In fact, the article states, patients may even wind up with more pain than before the initial surgery.

The AJSM report’s conclusion states: “Use of intra-articular pain pump catheters eluting bupivacaine with epinephrine appear highly associated with postarthroscopic glenohumeral chondrolysis.”

“Use of intra-articular pain pump catheters, especially those eluting bupivacaine with epinephrine, should be avoided until further investigation,” the states.

If you or a loved one have undergone arthroscopic joint surgery which involved the implantation of an intra-articular pain pump and are experiencing joint discomfort, popping, grinding or complications associated with chronic arthritis; or if you or your loved one have been diagnosed with PAGCL following such an implantation; you may be the victim of medical negligence and entitled to compensation.

Free Evaluation Form for Pain Pumps

Let the medical experts, including medical lawyers, doctors, nurses and articular medicine specialists at Elk & Elk represent you and your family’s interests with our decades of high-quality, award-winning medical negligence experience.

“We have the experience. We have the know-how and we have the desire to level the playing field between the victims of medical negligence and the hospitals and big corporations who may be responsible,” said Elk & Elk’s managing partner, Arthur M. Elk.

Elk’s practice was founded more than 40 year ago on the idea that everyone – rich, poor or somewhere in between – deserves the best legal representation the state of the art allows. It is through this philosophy that Elk and his firm have been able to consistently win settlements sufficient to address the lifelong needs of injury victims throughout the country.

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