Beasley, Allen, Crow, Methvin, Portis & Miles, P.C.

Several local anesthetics have added warnings on their labels notifying health care professionals that using the drugs in intra-articular devices, or pain pumps, following arthroscopic and other surgical procedures is not approved and has been linked to cases of a painful and debilitating condition of the shoulder joint known as chondrolysis, according to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Drug Safety report for February 2010. The cases of chondrolysis were reported in both pediatric and adult patients following intra-articular infusions of the anesthetics with and without epinephrine, a hormone neurotransmitter, for 48 to 72 hours following surgery.

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Spring is just around the corner, which means baseball season will soon start for millions of American children. But experts say parents and children should be cautious of shoulder injuries, as more and more young baseball players are getting benched because of them.

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Michael Johnson says neither he nor his doctor would have agreed to have a pain pump devices implanted into his shoulder joint during two arthroscopic surgeries if he knew that by doing so it would result in a full shoulder joint replacement. Johnson contends that the manufacturers of the medical device knew that the pain pumps were unreasonably and dangerously defective, and yet they did nothing to warn him or his surgeon about the risks associated with using it. Furthermore, he claims, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) specifically prohibited the marketing of pain pump devices with anesthetics to be placed in the joint cavity.

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Shoulder dislocations most often occur during sports activities and young men are at the greatest risk of having them, one of the main reasons young athletes see orthopaedic surgeons, according to a study published in the March 2010 issue of The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery (JBJS). The study also puts elderly women at high risk of shoulder dislocation. Researchers add that despite the prevalence of shoulder dislocations, the injuries are relatively under-reported.

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A growing number of young patients have been developing arthritis in their shoulders after routine outpatient arthroscopic surgery, causing surgeons to question what could be causing the debilitating condition in otherwise healthy individuals.

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The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is notifying health care professionals of reports of a serious and destructive cartilage condition known as chondrolysis in patients who have had shoulder surgery during which they received continuously infused local anesthetics to deaden pain. The anesthetics were delivered via pain pumps, balloon-like devices that hold medication outside the body and have a catheter that delivers pain medication directly into the shoulder joint for up to 72 hours following surgery.

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Dr. David S. Bailie, an orthopedic surgeon in Scottsdale, Ariz., says he’s lost hours of sleep over a rare joint condition he started seeing far too often in his patients who had had arthroscopic shoulder surgery. “There’s nothing worse than a surgeon doing something that causes a problem, not fixes a problem,” he told the New York Times.

Since 2005, Dr. Bailie says he has seen dozens of patients come to him months after surgery with worsening pain and limited mobility. The diagnosis was chondrolysis, a condition in which the cartilage in the shoulder joint wears away leaving bone to rub against bone. There is no cure for chondrolysis and in some cases, total shoulder replacement is required.

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Whitney Moore was in prime physical condition just a few years ago. She played junior varsity soccer at West Virginia University before opening a strength and conditioning business for young athletes. In 2004, she injured her shoulder playing soccer and had surgery to repair it. But the surgery only made her shoulder worse. Moore developed a once-rare condition known as chondrolysis, in which the cartilage in the joint wears away causing bone to rub against bone.

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A statement released by Texas Longhorns trainer Kenny Boyd over the weekend clarifies quarterback Colt McCoy’s injury, which occurred Thursday, Jan. 7, during the BCS National Championship Game. According to the statement, McCoy wanted to get back in the game after being tackled by Alabama’s Marcell Dareus, but “we couldn’t clear him to do that,” Boyd says. McCoy suffered a pinched nerve in his shoulder, which didn’t cause pain but did make him lose feeling in his arm. Three attempts to complete a 7-yard pass to his father in the Texas locker room were all unsuccessful, which proved he could not return to the game.

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Patients who have had an orthopedic surgical procedure and received a prolonged infusion of a local anesthetic into the joint with a disposable elastomeric pump or any other infusion pump are urged by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to pay attention to symptoms of any joint pain, stiffness and decrease or loss of motion. If any of those symptoms persist, patients are advised to contact their health care professional.

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