The US Food and Drug Administration recently approved the Medtronic Personal Therapy Manager (PTM) for patients with chronic pain and implanted SynchroMed II drug pumps. The PTM allows patients to activate delivery of doctor-prescribed supplemental doses of pain medication to alleviate increased pain. The PTM is for patients with drug pumps who experience episodes of pain that cannot be controlled through the pump’s pre-set release of medication or for patients who have inadequate pain relief or intolerable side effects from supplemental pain medications.

The PTM, a hand-held tool about the size of a cell phone, is a patient-activated pain control device for people with difficult-to-treat chronic pain. Patients use the PTM by pressing a button, which triggers the release of a doctor-prescribed dose of liquid morphine from the pump. Before releasing the medication, the PTM software verifies that enough time has passed (called the lockout interval) so that it is safe for the patient to receive the additional dose. Patients do not have the ability to increase the dosage.

Previously, patients received a constant dose of pain medication from the pump. Implantable drug pumps deliver small, controlled amounts of medication to the spinal column’s fluid-filled area (called the intrathecal space) through which pain signals travel.

Source: www.medtronic.com