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Delivery interaction between co-infused medications: an in vitro modeling study of microinfusion
Paediatric Anaesthesia, 06/26/2012
Tsao AC et al. – The authors confirmed the hypothesis that delivery of one infused drug is transiently affected by starting or stopping a second drug infusion in the same line. The magnitude of the changes can be estimated quantitatively. The clinical impact depends on the drugs being co–infused and patient sensitivity, but could be clinically important; the findings have safety implications for infused medication delivery to critically ill or anesthetized children. They recommend minimizing infusion system dead volumes, connecting the most essential infusion(s) to the main fluid pathway as close as possible to the patient, and recognizing the potential for unintended alterations in delivery when multiple drugs co–infuse.