Before Selecting Your ACCUFUSER® Pump

Each Accufuser® is ordered with a designated flow rate, bolus dose, lockout time, and catheter configuration. The pump selection tables in the next section provide you lists of these ACCUFUSER® pump and catheter combinations for various surgical procedures, based on the experience of other users.

Pump Specifications to Consider

• Do you want your patient to use a bolus-dose button?
  Clinical research shows that patients given continuous local anesthetic combined with bolus dosing receive equivalent or superior analgesia and use less pain medication, compared to patients given continuous-only or bolus-only infusion.*
  
  At all flow rates of continuous infusion, there are ACCUFUSER® pump models that offer the bolus-dose feature. The two bolus dose options are 1 mL and 2 mL. Your choices for a bolus lockout time, during which period the patient cannot deliver another bolus dose, are 15, 30 and 60 minutes.
  
  
• How many days of therapy do you wish to provide your patient?
  The pump’s fluid fill capacity and infusion flow rate determine how many days of therapy it will deliver. ACCUFUSER® pumps are available in 100 mL, 275 mL and 550 mL fill volumes, and infuse at flow rates from 0.5 mL/hr to 10 mL/hr. Depending on their specifications, ACCUFUSER® pumps provide delivery times from one to about five days.
  
  
• Other considerations may include:
  The invasiveness of the procedure, your patient’s weight and your patient’s pain threshold.
  

Catheter Specifications to Consider

• The Curlin Saturation Catheter™ is generally preferred for surgery because it is fenestrated, containing a pattern of tiny holes around its circumference to deliver uniform medication coverage around the wound area.
  
  
• Curlin Saturation Catheters™ are available in 2.5”, 5” and 10” lengths. Shorter lengths are generally used for small incisions, shallow fascia placement, placement near nerve bundles. Longer catheters are generally used for large incisions and deep fascia, sub-muscular or tunneled placements.
  
  
• Standard catheters may be preferred when working through small incisions or in joint surgery.
  
  
• Dual catheters provide enhanced anesthetic coverage for longer incisions, or for bilateral placement, as in knee or breast procedures.
  
  
• Single catheters are generally used for smaller incisions.