I-Flow Announces Baylor University Medical Center's Incorporation of ON-Q PainBuster into Innovative Outpatient Weight Loss Surgery Program

LAKE FOREST, Calif. -- I-Flow Corporation today announced that Dr. Todd McCarty, Dr. Joseph Kuhn, Dr. Nick Nicholson and Dr. David Arnold on the medical staff of Baylor University Medical Center at Dallas have incorporated ON-Q(R) PainBuster, a narcotic-free surgical-site pain relief system, into their innovative outpatient bariatric surgical program.

Patients undergo laparoscopic gastric bypass surgery followed by an intra-operative bolus of steroids and the use of an anesthetic agent to "fast track" waking and avoid respiratory complications. Surgeons then use a closure technique that fosters rapid healing and prevents future hernia problems. The goal in adding ON-Q PainBuster to this program is to relieve pain effectively while reducing the incidence of narcotic related side effects that require patients to remain in the hospital for a longer period of time. In the 700-plus procedures where ON-Q was used, a correlation was noted between improved post-surgical pain relief and shorter hospital stays.

"Patients undergoing laparoscopic bariatric surgery used to spend two to three days in the hospital because of narcotic side effects such as sedation, decreased intestinal motility, respiratory depression and an increased risk of blood clots if they're unable to ambulate quickly following surgery. Now, with the addition of ON-Q PainBuster for post-surgical pain relief our patients are usually out of the hospital in less than 24 hours without these complications," said Kuhn.

McCarty, medical director of the Weight Loss Surgery Program at Baylor Dallas, adds, "The decrease in narcotic intake and reduction in hospital stay improves our patients' overall surgical experience, generally helping them get on the path to recovery and back to their normal lives faster. This is one of the fastest growing areas of medicine and improved post-operative pain control could help hundreds of thousands of patients each year. As a major teaching institution, we see surgeons from around the country who are interested in integrating innovative clinical care pathways into their practice."

ON-Q PainBuster recently received enhanced indications for use from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and is now labeled to provide significantly better pain relief than narcotics alone and significantly less need for narcotics after surgery. ON-Q PainBuster provides effective post-operative analgesia by continuously infusing a local anesthetic around the incision site, which is responsible for most of the pain resulting from the surgery. In conjunction with the minimally-invasive laparoscopic technique, the use of the ON-Q PainBuster offers significantly better pain relief following surgery.

"With the addition of ON-Q PainBuster to the technique developed at Baylor University Medical Center at Dallas, in general, patients are recovering faster from laparoscopic bariatric procedures with less pain and less narcotic use," said Donald M. Earhart, president and CEO of I-Flow Corporation. "For bariatric surgery patients where early ambulation is so important, we feel ON-Q presents a clear and meaningful benefit. We hope that hospitals around the country will replicate this technique pioneered at Baylor which is effective in improving patient satisfaction."

ON-Q is now labeled to significantly reduce pain and narcotics intake after surgery. The ON-Q PainBuster is a simple device that consists of a small balloon pump that holds a local anesthetic and delivers it through a tiny, specially-designed catheter directly into the surgical site. The proprietary ON-Q Soaker Catheter is designed to provide more even distribution of local anesthetic over a wider area, as compared to other catheters, because of its patented wicking capabilities. ON-Q PainBuster delivers narcotic-free pain relief for many surgeries, including: cesarean section, hysterectomy, knee replacement, mastectomy, cardio-vascular/thoracic, foot and ankle and many cosmetic procedures. ON-Q PainBuster helps patients avoid the side effects of narcotics so they can get back to their normal lives faster. Currently, 30 studies on the use of ON-Q have been completed and published and more are underway to demonstrate the benefits of ON-Q in additional areas such as pediatrics and wound healing.

Source: About I-Flow Corporation

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