Intrathecal ziconotide and opioid combination therapy for noncancer pain: an observational study.

Methods: Patients with severe chronic pain of noncancer origin who were receiving inadequate analgesia with intrathecal opioid therapy (with or without intrathecal adjuvants) and who had ziconotide added to their intrathecal regimens were included. Patient characteristics, intrathecal ziconotide doses, concomitant intrathecal and systemic drug use, visual analog scale pain scores, Oswestry Disability Index scores, mini-mental status examination scores, neurological examination results, clinical observations (including adverse event reports), and equipment complications were reviewed for 12 weeks after ziconotide initiation.