About Chondrolysis
A July 2007 article in the American Journal of Sports Medicine reported a link between intra-articular pain pumps following arthroscopic shoulder surgery and an extremely painful, debilitating condition known as Postarthroscopic Glenohumeral Chondrolysis (PAGCL) or simply, chondrolysis.
The disposable pain pumps, which were implanted in the intra-articular (inside the joint) space during the procedure, were often used for two or three days to deliver high doses of anesthetic drugs. The most common selection of pain drugs delivered through the pump was either Bupivacaine or Marcaine.
However, the American Journal of Sports Medicine article reported that use of the high-volume pain pumps following arthroscopic surgery resulted in an otherwise unexplainable loss of hyaline cartilage in the shoulder joint -- chondrolysis. The study stated that chondrolysis caused extreme pain and lifelong suffering in 63 percent of the patients that use the pain pumps.
Since the publication of that article, dozens of follow up studies and case reports have confirmed the causal link between pain pumps and shoulder chondrolysis. A recent editorial in the Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery reviewed a scholarly paper by Brett Wiater, M.D. at the University of Washington in Seattle. That paper, published in the April 2011 edition of the Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, studied 375 shoulders with chondrolysis and determined that all but one had developed the condition from the use of a pain pump. The editor of the journal wrote that this paper, "combined with the recent peer-reviewed literature, has further illuminated the role of local anesthetics and high flow pain pumps in causing chondrolysis, and the intra-articular use of these techniques in association with shoulder arthroscopy should be avoided."
Chondrolysis affects people of all ages and affects men and women equally. Many victims are young high school and collegiate age athletes who suffer sports related injuries.
Some of the medical problems caused by chondrolysis:
- Inability to lift one’s arm above the shoulder
- Inability to lift objects weighing more than a few pounds
- Inability to sleep through the night without waking from pain
- Decreased range of motion
- Loss of strength in the joint
The complication is usually diagnosed with an x-ray showing the narrowing of the shoulder joint space – which occurs as the shoulder’s glenohumeral joint – the joint at the end of the shoulder, where the shoulder and arm meet -- begins to deteriorate after surgery. As the cushioning cartilage begins to deteriorate, the individual starts to experience the extreme pain associated with chondrolysis.
Chondrolysis is a catastrophic diagnosis. There is no known cure for it and this condition will likely require one or more open and painful surgical procedures throughout the patient’s lifetime. One of the accepted surgical procedures to minimize the effects of chondrolysis is either a partial or total joint replacement.
Anyone experiencing symptoms associated with chondrolysis following the implantation of a pain pump should seek medical attention immediately. There are currently several hundred lawsuits pending against the manufacturers of the most popular pain pumps, including Stryker, DJO Inc., I-Flow Inc. and BREG Inc. The lawsuits have demonstrated that the defendants did not warn the medical community that the safety of the pumps had not been fully established.
If you or a loved one has experienced cartilage damage and pain due to chondrolysis following shoulder arthroscopic surgery, contact our law offices immediately. You may be entitled to compensation.
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