This Article  • Full text  • PDF  • Reply to article  • Send to a friend  • Save in My Folder  • Save to citation manager  • Permissions  Citing Articles  • Contact me when this article is cited  Related Content  • Similar articles in this journal  Topic Collections  • Dry Eye Syndromes  • Drug Therapy  • Drug Therapy, Other  • Alert me on articles by topic

An Interdisciplinary Approach

José De Andrés, PhD, MD; Salvador García-Delpech, MD; Vicente Luis Villanueva Pérez, MD; Manuel Díaz-Llopis, PhD, MD; Patricia Udaondo, MD; María Teresa Serrano Sánchez, MD; David Salom, PhD, MD

Arch Ophthalmol. 2008;126(7):964-967.

Internal infusion pumps are implantable and programmable systems that have been widely used for years in the management of chronic pain. During the past few years, these devices have had an increasingly prominent role given the possibility of insulin infusions in patients with diabetes mellitus because they provide patients with higher autonomy in the management of their disease, despite the fact that they are expensive systems and require surgery for implantation. These features make internal infusion pumps a suitable therapeutic option for those patients who need to use artificial tears continuously because of severe dry eyes. We report a case of severe eye pain due to xerophthalmia in a patient with CREST (calcinosis, Raynaud phenomenon, esophageal dysmotility, sclerodactyly, and telangiectasia) syndrome who was treated with an implanted pump reservoir.

Author Affiliations: Departments of Anesthesia, Critical Care, and Pain Management (Drs De Andrés and Villanueva Pérez), Multidisciplinary Pain Management (Drs De Andrés and Villanueva Pérez), and Ophthalmology (Drs García-Delpech, Díaz-Llopis, Udaondo, Serrano Sánchez, and Salom), University General Hospital, Valencia, Spain.