Background and Purpose- Intrathecal
baclofen (ITB) is an effective treatment for managing patients with severe poststroke spasticity, who can experience continued
pain and decline in their quality of life (QoL). SISTERS (Spasticity In
Stroke-Randomized Study) was a randomized, controlled, open-label, multicenter, phase 4 study to evaluate ITB
therapy versus conventional medical management (CMM) with oral antispastic medications for treatment of poststroke spasticity. Methods- Poststroke patients with spasticity in ≥2 extremities and an Ashworth Scale score of ≥3 in ≥2 affected lower extremity muscle groups were randomized (1:1) to ITB (N=31) or CMM (N=29). Both treatment arms received physiotherapy throughout. The primary outcome was the change in average Ashworth Scale score in the lower extremities of the affected side from baseline to month 6. Here, we report results for secondary outcomes:
pain via the Numeric
Pain Rating Scale, health-related QoL by the EuroQol-5 dimensional 3 level utility score and health status visual analog scale score,
stroke-specific QoL, and patient satisfaction. Analyses were performed on an intention-to-treat basis. Results- We observed significant treatment effects in favor of ITB over CMM for changes from baseline to month 6 in Numeric
Pain Rating Scale scores for actual
pain (ITB versus CMM: mean, -1.17 [SD, 3.17] versus 0.00 [3.29]; median, -1.00 versus 0.00; P=0.0380) and least
pain (mean, -1.61 [2.29] versus 0.24 [3.07]; median, -1.00 versus 0.00; P=0.0136), and EuroQol-5 dimensional 3 level utility scores (mean, +0.09 [0.26] versus +0.01 [0.16]; median, +0.07 versus 0.00; P=0.0197). Between-group differences were not statistically significant for EuroQol-5 dimensional 3 level visual analog scale,
stroke-specific QoL summary, or Numeric
Pain Rating Scale worst
pain scores, although ITB patients showed greater numeric improvements from baseline during follow-up. More ITB patients than CMM patients (73% versus 48%) were satisfied with the spasticity reduction at month 6. Conclusions- These data support that ITB
therapy is associated with improvements in
pain and QoL in poststroke patients. Clinical Trial Registration- URL: https://www.clinicaltrials.gov . Unique identifier: NCT01032239.