Heather, a multiple sclerosis patient in her early 40s, came to Anesthesia Pain Care Consultants in terrible pain and suffering from spasticity, which is not uncommon with MS patients. She was referred by her neurologist, who had heard about the great results that Dr. Cuneyt Ozaktay had been having with Medtronic’s intrathecal pump.
When she first visited Dr. Ozaktay, she expected to hear the all too common response that she had become familiar with – “You’ll have to deal with it.”
Spasticity manifests itself by tight or stiff muscles including painful muscle spasms. It often leaves own with an inability to control those muscles. It can be the result of many causes, including stroke, MS, cerebral palsy and spinal cord injury. It was the pain that became intense for Heather, and she was looking for a solution.
That solution came in the form of a Baclofen pump. The intrathecal pump is implanted to provide precise, targeted treatment proven to reduce severe spasticity and its associated pain.
Dr. Ozaktay implanted the programmable, battery-powered pump, which Heather now controls herself. It provides medicine directly where it’s needed at much lower doses that she was taking orally in the past, since it is now delivered directly to the site. Another benefit of the Baclofen pump is that the side effects of the medication are dramatically reduced.
It’s FDA approved and covered by most health insurance plans as well as Medicare.
“I can’t thank Dr. O. enough,” said Heather. She has significantly increased her activity level, rehabilitation and has even lost weight. “I am working diligently at home to learn to walk again.”
