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Intrathecal Baclofen – The Importance of Catheter Position

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 September 2015

Herman Hugenholtz*
Affiliation:
Departments of Neurosurgery (H.H.), and Neurology (R.F.N.), Ottawa General Hospital; and Rehabilitation Medicine, Royal Ottawa Rehabilitation Centre, Ottawa
Robert F. Nelson
Affiliation:
Departments of Neurosurgery (H.H.), and Neurology (R.F.N.), Ottawa General Hospital; and Rehabilitation Medicine, Royal Ottawa Rehabilitation Centre, Ottawa
Eric Dehoux
Affiliation:
Departments of Neurosurgery (H.H.), and Neurology (R.F.N.), Ottawa General Hospital; and Rehabilitation Medicine, Royal Ottawa Rehabilitation Centre, Ottawa
*
Room 6353, Ottawa General Hospital, 501 Smyth Road, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada K1H 8L6
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Abstract:

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In a patient receiving intrathecal baclofen injections for intractable trunk and leg spasms, positioning the subarachnoid catheter tip just caudal to the spinal segments innervating the spastic muscles enhanced the spasmolytic effect of bolus injections of intrathecal baclofen on the affected muscles. Such selective positioning of subarachnoid catheters may facilitate segmental spasmolysis with lower intrathecal doses of baclofen and provide an important alternative to relying only on ascending CSF concentration gradients of baclofen from chronic lumbar intrathecal infusion.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Neurological Sciences Federation 1993

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