Pain control in chronic, refractory CRPS by continuous brachial plexus analgesia.

Abstract

Each patient underwent a mean of 4.4 (range 2-8) spinal catheter implantations. A rapid and strong analgesic effect was observed immediately after the injection of bupivacaine solution was started: Pain decreased from a mean of 8.3 to 1.6. The duration of maintaining the catheter in the brachial plexus and achieving effective analgesia was 5.3 months (range 2-12). After the removal of the catheter, the pain returned to baseline. No patient achieved a permanent, or at least partial, reduction of pain after completing this therapy.