Fifteen year experience of intrathecal baclofen treatment in Japan.

Intrathecal baclofen administration is a fully established treatment for severe spasticity. However, it is scarcely known that Baclofen, an agonist of GABA-B receptor, has other potential effects on pain, restoration coma, dystonia, tetanus, and hypothalamic storm. Sporadic episodes of dramatic recovery from persistent vegetative state are reported after intrathecal administration of baclofen. There are also reports on the use of baclofen for neuropathic pain including poststroke central pain syndrome. Baclofen is also used for control of dystonia due to cerebral palsy or reflex sympathetic dystrophy. On the other hand, epidural spinal cord stimulation has been used for pain, spasticity, dystonia, or attempt to improve deteriorated consciousness, though the effects seem variable and modest. Similarity between baclofen and spinal cord stimulation is interesting in that both involve the spinal GABAergic system. Based on the 15-year personal experience of intrathecal baclofen, I would stress importance of this treatment not only for spasticity but also for other difficult neurological disorders.