A new study, recently published in Anesthesia Progress, aims to discover whether diluted epinephrine remains stable and sterile over periods of time in common hospital settings.
LAWRENCE, Kan., Sept. 26, 2024 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Anesthesia Progress – Epinephrine is a common drug administered during emergency medical situations. Depending on the severity of the situation, intravenous (IV) epinephrine may be given immediately in a highly concentrated dose, such as during cardiac arrest, or in urgent cases, like allergic reactions, it should be diluted to a lesser concentration to avoid a mistaken overdose. In these more stressful, urgent medical situations, diluting the epinephrine can be challenging for the medical provider to draw the most accurate dose quickly, leading to a potential slowdown in the medical response time.
To assess the stability of prediluted epinephrine, researchers from The Ohio State University College of Dentistry, The Ohio State University College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences, Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center Metabolite Analysis Cluster, Wooster, OH, USA, The Ohio State University College of Medicine, The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, all in Columbus, Ohio, recently published a study in the current issue of Anesthesia Progress. Author Spencer Wade, DDS, MS, states, "The motivation behind [our study] was to give anesthesia providers, especially those who practice outside of surgery centers and hospitals, the extra preparedness when it comes to perioperative medical urgencies and emergencies."
Researchers produced samples of epinephrine diluted with saline solution and tested them in four different environments: refrigerated (4°C) with fluorescent lighting, refrigerated (4°C) with no light, ambient temperature (20°C) with fluorescent lighting and ambient temperature (20°C) with no light. Three samples were made for each different testing environment for a total of 60 samples and analyzed at five time points: 0, 15, 30, 60 and 90 days. Sterility was also tested using blood agar cultures, and the samples were examined for bacterial growth.
Results showed that the epinephrine samples remained stable in all environments and at all time points examined and that no bacterial growth was found in any of the samples. When commenting on the results of the study, Wade states, "By being able to pre-dilute epinephrine, the anesthesia provider can readily have a titratable dose of a medication to address bronchospasm, bradycardia, allergic reaction, and hypotension without the need to individually mix the medication in a critical situation."
This study shows that prediluted epinephrine can remain stable and sterile for up to 90 days, which can significantly impact patient outcomes during urgent medical interventions. Wade concludes, "The paper demonstrates that epinephrine can remain stable at diluted concentrations for weeks and months at a time. The secondary issue addressed is that sterility was also intact for all samples, which is another concern that providers have. An indirect benefit of this study is that it is shown that the longevity of diluted epinephrine extends way beyond what most providers would have considered. In turn, this reduces medical waste and saves costs, while secondary to patient safety, are still important considerations in healthcare."
Full text of the article, "Stability of Epinephrine in a Normal Saline Solution," Anesthesia Progress, Vol. 71, No. 3, 2024, is now available at https://anesthesiaprogress.kglmeridian.com/view/journals/anpr/71/3/article-p109.xml
About Anesthesia Progress
Anesthesia Progress is the official publication of the American Dental Society of Anesthesiology (ADSA). The quarterly journal is dedicated to providing a better understanding of the advances being made in the science of pain and anxiety control in dentistry. The journal invites submissions of review articles, reports on clinical techniques, case reports, and conference summaries. To learn more about the ADSA, visit: http://www.adsahome.org/.
Media Contact
Samantha Weinkauf, KnowledgeWorks Global Ltd., 1 785-289-2649, [email protected]
SOURCE Anesthesia Progress
Share this article