• Spasticty is a condition, often caused by a spinal cord injury or brain trauma, which causes some muscles to erratically contract. The painful muscle contraction causes stiffness and tightness of the muscles and can interfere with movement. Spasticity affects about 500,000 people in the United States and more than 12 million people worldwide.1

  • Spasticity can be treated with traditional oral medications, however, these medications can make patients even more lethargic.

  • Some patients respond well to intrathecal baclofen therapy and have a baclofen infusion pump implanted. Baclofen is a muscle relaxant that is commonly used in adults to decrease spasticity related to spinal cord injuries or multiple sclerosis.

  • This technologically advanced pump system allows the drug to be continuously administered into the space surrounding the spinal cord. The physician typically implants the pump into the patient’s stomach and connects it with a small tube that stretches around the side to the space surrounding the spinal cord. The pump administers the drug in very small doses and is refilled approximately every three months by injecting the medication through the skin into the pump’s reservoir.

  • Continuous Intrathecal Baclofen Therapy (ITB)2 was first introduced in 1984 to treat spasticity when oral medications failed. Research has found that after having a baclofen infusion pump implanted, more than 90 percent of patients saw marked improvements in their ability to complete daily activities including easier dressing, transferring, orthotic wear and comfort, and sitting tolerance.3

  • Another study found that patients who had the pump implanted to treat spasticity as a result of spinal cord injury maintained their muscle tone within the normal range. The study also determined that the pump reduced spasms enabling patients to continue their daily activities. The authors concluded that intrathecal baclofen is an effective long-term treatment for spinal spasticity that has not responded to oral baclofen.4

  • Research has also shown that intrathecal baclofen pump therapy can not only improve the quality of life for patients with severe spasticity and disability, but also be cost-effective, as long as the technology is supervised by a well-organized multi-disciplinary medical team.5

  • Another study of seven baclofen pump therapy patients found that when the baclofen pump was implanted the gross cost savings due to reduced hospitalizations related to spasticity resulted in a net cost-saving of $153,120 over the course of the two-year study.6

  1. WE MOVE: The worldwide association for education & awareness for movement disorders. “Epidemiology - Spasticity.” http://www.wemove.org (16 March 2006).

  2. The intrathecal space is the fluid filled space surrounding the spinal cord.

  3. Stempien, L., Tsai, T. “Intrathecal baclofen pump use for spasticity: A clinical survey.” American Journal of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation 79(6) (2000):536-541.

  4. Penn, R.D., Savoy, S.M., Corcos, D., et al. “Intrathecal baclofen for severe spinal spasticity.” New England Journal of Medicine 320(23) (1989):1517-1521.

  5. Becker, W.J. “Long Term Intrathecal Baclofen Therapy in Patients with Intractable Spasticity.” The Canadian Journal of Neuroscience 22(3) (1995):208-217.

  6. Nance, P., Schryvers, O., Schmidt, B., et al. “Intrathecal baclofen therapy for adults with spinal spasticity: therapeutic efficacy and effect on hospital admissions.” Canadian Journal of Neurological Science 22(1) (1995):22-9.
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