Perfusion des médicaments vasoactifs à très faible débit : influence des modalités du relais et du volume des seringues (étude expérimentale)

Objective

The flow rate of intravenous administration of vasoactive agents should be steady in order to prevent changes in hemodynamics. In the newborns, because the flow rate is often lower than 1 mL/h, it is difficult to switch of the syringe. The aim of our study was to compare the variations of concentration of active substance delivered after a manual or an automatic switch off the syringe with three different volumes (10 mL, 20 mL and 50 mL).

Materials and methods

Glucose solution (10 g/L) was used to simulate the administered substance. Saline was administered in “Y” simultaneously with the glucose solution through a catheter. The infused substance was collected at the tip of the catheter. The glucose concentration was measured at 15min-interval for 3 hours.

Results

The manual switch of the syringe was associated with a significant alteration of the flow rate, lasting more than 15 min. In contrast, the automatic switch of syringes was associated with no change of the flow rate, especially with small-volume syringes (10 mL).

Conclusion

In newborns, in order to prevent the change in flow rate of drugs after a switch of syringes, our results suggest the use of syringe-pump with built-in automatic switch and small-volume syringes.