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  1. Healthcare Professionals
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Targeted drug delivery

Conditions

Alleviate chronic pain, cancer pain, and severe spasticity

Indications, Safety, and Warnings

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Less pain and severe spasticity. Fewer side effects.

Millions of Americans are affected by pain and have been prescribed systemic opioids, typically oral, as part of their treatment plan by healthcare providers.1 A common medication for spasticity is a muscle relaxer called baclofen. The implanted pump stores and dispenses medication inside the body, reducing the opportunity for diversion of the drug, for misuse by individuals who are not prescribed the opiods or baclofen. Additionally, the physician programs the pump to deliver a certain amount of medication, allowing more physician control compared to systemic opioid therapy, reducing the opportunity for misuse of prescribed opioids.

Improved quality of life
87%

of pain patients who rated their quality of life as fair to excellent2

Benefits of targeted drug delivery

Benefits of treating chronic intractable pain with targeted drug delivery include:

  • Effective pain relief3,4
  • Reduced or eliminated use of oral pain medicines4,13
  • Improved ability to function and participate in day-to-day activities5
  •  Fewer side effects compared to oral medication6
  • Patient satisfaction4,7
  • Cost benefits8,9
Treating chronic pain

In clinical studies, the test dose was effective for:

94%

of patients with spasticity related to the brain2

97%

of patients with spasticity related to the spine10

Alleviating intractable cancer pain

Cancer patients may benefit from targeted drug delivery, an alternate route of delivering pain medication. 

Targeted drug delivery is effective in reducing or eliminating the need for systemic opioids when used to treat malignant pain.11

Treating cancer pain
A young medical professional is helping her mature patient as they smiling and laugh together.
SynchroMed™ III is an implantable targeted drug infusion system that helps manage chronic pain, cancer pain, and severe spasticity.

A different option for severe spasticity

The SynchroMed™ III implantable infusion system delivers baclofen directly into the intrathecal space, thereby bypassing the blood-brain barrier. As a result, only a fraction of the oral dose is needed to produce efficacy while minimizing systemic side effects.12

Treating severe spasticity

Discover SychroMed™ III

See the SynchroMed™ III implantable pump.

Visit product page

Contact us

Contact a Medtronic representative to learn more about this therapy. 

Contact us

Education and training

Find on-demand resources for physicians using targeted drug delivery to treat pain patients.

Visit Medtronic Academy

  1. Institute of Medicine. Relieving pain in America: a blueprint for transforming prevention, care, education, and research. Washington DC, United States: National Academies Press; 2011.
  2. Gilmartin R, Bruce D, Storrs BB, et al. Intrathecal baclofen for management of spastic cerebral palsy: Multicenter trial. J Child Neurol. 2000;15(2):71–77.
  3. Hamza M, Doleys D, Wells M, et al. Prospective study of 3-year follow-up of low-dose intrathecal opioids in the management of chronic nonmalignant pain. Pain Med. 2012;13(10): 1304-1313.
  4. Deer T, Chapple I, Classen A, et al. Intrathecal drug delivery for treatment of chronic low back pain: report from the National Outcomes Registry for Low Back Pain. Pain Med. 2004;5:6–13.
  5. Roberts LJ, Finch PM, Goucke CR, Price LM. Outcome of intrathecal opioids in chronic non-cancer pain. Eur J Pain. 2001;5:353–361.
  6. Smith TJ, Staats PS, Deer T, et al. Randomized clinical trial of an implantable drug delivery system compared with comprehensive medical management for refractory cancer pain: impact on pain, drug-related toxicity, and survival. J Clin Oncol. 2002;20:4040–4049.
  7. Ilias W, le Polain B, Buchser E, Demartini L for the oPTiMa study group. Patient controlled analgesia in chronic pain patients: experience with a new device designed to be used with implanted programable pumps. Pain Pract. 2008;8(3):164–170.
  8. Guillemette S, Witzke S, Leier J, Hinnenthal J, Prager JP. Medical cost impact of intrathecal drug delivery for noncancer pain. Pain Med. 2013;14:504–515.
  9. Stearns LJ., Narang S., Albright Jr., RE, et al. Assessment of Health Care Utilization and Cost of Targeted Drug Delivery and Conventional Medical Management vs Conventional Medical Management Alone for Patients With Cancer-Related Pain JAMA Netw Open. 2019;2(4):e191549.doi: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2019.1549.
  10. Penn RD, Intrathecal baclofen for spasticity of spinal origin: seven years of experience. Neurosurg. 1992;77(2):236–240.
  11. Sindt, J, Odell, D, Dalley, A & Brogan, S. Initiation of Intrathecal Drug Delivery Dramatically Reduces Systemic Opioid Use in Patients With Advanced Cancer. Neuromodulation: Journal of the International Neuromodulation Society. 23, 978–983 (2020).
  12. Penn RD, Savoy SM, Corcos D, et al. Intrathecal baclofen for severe spinal spasticity. N Engl J Med. 1989; 320: 1517–1521.
  13. Hatheway JA, Bansal M, Nichols-Ricker CI. Systemic Opioid Reduction and Discontinuation Following Implantation of Intrathecal Drug-Delivery Systems for Chronic Pain: A Retrospective Cohort Analysis. Neuromodulation. 2020 Oct;23(7):961-969.
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