Post-Surgical Pain Pumps Linked to Cartilage Loss in Young Athletes

The athletic careers of many high school and college students have come to an abrupt end due to a condition known as Chondrolysis. Chondrolysis is the deterioration or death of cartilage in the joint. When the cartilage dies, there is no cushion in the bone and the sufferer is left with bone grinding on bone. This is a painful and debilitating condition that forces many sufferers to endure full joint replacements, and multiple replacements depending on their age.

When Chondrolysis was first reported in orthopedic journals, no one had an explanation for why so many relatively young patients were developing this rare condition. But now several studies have pointed the finger at pain pumps placed after surgery.

These pumps were placed in the joint to deliver pain medicine after surgery. Pain pumps are placed to deliver local anesthetics to a specific area through a plastic tube. Placing the pump to deliver medicine directly into the joint was thought to be a more effective and efficient delivery system, providing faster and greater pain relief for shoulder, knee and other joint surgery patients. Unfortunately, the manufacturers did not test this new delivery method before convincing surgeons of its great benefits. Despite warnings from the FDA that testing would be needed before this new delivery system could be marketed, the manufacturers did not do any meaningful studies and chose to use the American population as guinea pigs.

Now many people, particularly younger patients, are paying a painful price. The reason that so many young people are affected is that the pain pump was thought to be a safer alternative than pain pills. Since many pain medicines are highly addictive and the pain pump delivers medicine in a controlled manner, the pump became the method of choice for post-surgical pain relief. Little did these once vibrant athletes know that these pain pumps would completely change and ruin their lives.

Now juries must decide whether the manufacturers should have done more. Over 150 lawsuits have been filed thus far. One jury in Oregon recently awarded over $5.5 million to a father of four who now cannot pick up his baby or shake someone’s hand because a pain pump destroyed his shoulder joint. I hope the juries keep getting this one right.