Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40122938›Full record

ArticleChild's nervous system : ChNS : official journal of the International Society for Pediatric Neurosurgery2025

A pre-operative gastrointestinal optimization protocol to improve outcomes after intrathecal baclofen pump surgery.

Amanda M Mosher, Emma K Hartman, Marcella Ruppert-Gomez, Steven J Staffa, Kristin Buxton, Ann Morgan, Sangeeta Muskar, Scellig Stone, Weston T Northam

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Article in Child's nervous system : ChNS : official journal of the International Society for Pediatric Neurosurgery, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

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4 · The record

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5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

9 authors.

Amanda M MosherDepartment of Neurosurgery, Boston Children'S Hospital, 300 Longwood Avenue, Boston, MA, 02115, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0009-0003-1764-7134
Emma K HartmanDepartment of Neurosurgery, Boston Children'S Hospital, 300 Longwood Avenue, Boston, MA, 02115, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0009-0008-9153-0483
Marcella Ruppert-GomezDepartment of Neurosurgery, Boston Children'S Hospital, 300 Longwood Avenue, Boston, MA, 02115, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0009-0000-0431-3045
Steven J StaffaDepartment of Anesthesiology, Critical Care and Pain Medicine, Boston Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7588-7596
Kristin BuxtonBaclofen Pump Program, Boston Children'S Hospital, Boston, MA, USA.
Ann MorganBaclofen Pump Program, Boston Children'S Hospital, Boston, MA, USA.
Sangeeta MuskarBaclofen Pump Program, Boston Children'S Hospital, Boston, MA, USA.
Scellig StoneDepartment of Neurosurgery, Boston Children'S Hospital, 300 Longwood Avenue, Boston, MA, 02115, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4546-6790
Weston T NorthamDepartment of Neurosurgery, Boston Children'S Hospital, 300 Longwood Avenue, Boston, MA, 02115, USA. Weston.Northam@childrens.harvard.edu.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3019-1296

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

purposePediatric cerebral palsy patients carry frequent medical comorbidities and disproportionately consume hospital resources after neurosurgical procedures. We implemented an institutional pre-operative gastrointestinal (GI) optimization protocol to improve outcomes and decrease resource utilization.

methodsAll 323 intrathecal baclofen surgeries from 2000 to 2023 were categorized relative to protocol implementation on July 1, 2017. Outcomes and resource utilization were compared.

resultsThe protocol change resulted in significantly fewer hospital readmissions (p = 0.001) for constipation, eliminating them and GI-related emergency visits. There was a reduction of 27 hospital days for constipation-related readmission (median 1 day per patient, IQR 1, 2 days). No differences were reported between the experimental groups including demographics or GI comorbidities. Post-operative complications within 30 days were comparable between groups regarding urinary tract infections, surgical-site infections, and spinal fluid leak. There were no differences in post-operative length of stay between groups.

conclusionA GI optimization protocol can eliminate a frequent source of hospital readmissions and GI-related emergency department visits after baclofen pump surgery, even accounting for baseline GI comorbidities. Preventing readmissions and emergency visits translates to lower hospital resource utilization and improves quality of care. Future efforts are warranted to improve outcomes and care efficiency for our most complex and resource-intensive patients.

Indexed as

BaclofenCerebral PalsyInfusion Pumps, ImplantableMuscle Relaxants, CentralPostoperative ComplicationsPreoperative CareAdolescentChildChild, PreschoolClinical ProtocolsFemaleHumansInjections, SpinalMalePatient ReadmissionRetrospective StudiesBaclofenMuscle Relaxants, CentralCerebral palsyConstipationGI optimizationIntrathecal baclofen pump

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.