Disclosures: Daniel Moon, MD, MS: Ipsen (Products/Services: No) (Consultant/Advisory Board)

Background and/or Objectives: To describe the utility of beta 2 transferrin (BT) testing in the management of patients using intrathecal drug delivery for either pain or spasticity management.

Design: Retrospective chart review

Setting: Outpatient clinic

Participants: Individuals implanted with intrathecal drug delivery systems who underwent BT testing

Interventions: Interventions: not applicable

Main Outcome Measures: Concordance of BT testing to results of either surgical intervention or CT myelogram.

Results: Sixty individuals with intrathecal delivery systems underwent BT testing as a component of their ongoing management. Twenty-five patients carried a diagnosis of chronic pain and 35 patients carried a diagnosis of severe spasticity. BT testing was done on 56 individuals from the fluid obtained from a catheter access port aspiration and on 4 individuals from the fluid obtained from aspiration of a pump pocket seroma. All individuals subsequently underwent surgical revision or a CT myelogram with dye injection through the catheter access port. Overall concordance was 93%. Three cases of arachnoiditis and one case of subdural encapsulation represented the situations where BT testing was incongruent with either the surgical or CT myelogram result.

Conclusions: BT testing may represent a reasonable technique for troubleshooting individuals with intrathecal delivery systems.

Level of Evidence: Level III

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PM&R Meeting Abstracts - https://pmrjabstracts.org/abstract/utility-of-beta-2-transferrin-testing-in-the-management-of-patients-using-intrathecal-drug-delivery/