Abstract
Objective: In the past, a conventional crushing method was used for the administration of tablets or capsules by tube in patients with dysphagia. However, this method has several problems, such as a loss of the drug amount and tube clogging. Recently, tube administration by a simple suspension method was developed to solve these problems in the conventional crushing method.
Methods: In the present study, we investigated to what extent the dosage amount is lost using the simple suspension method compared to crushing method, employing 5 drugs which are frequently administered by tube in Okayama University Hospital.
Results: Drug weights of the 5 agents decreased by 70 ～ 90% in the grinding and packaging processes because of drug adhesion to the mortar, packaging machine, and drug package paper. The suspension of all drugs using the simple suspension method was uniform, while only the suspension of Warfarin® ground using the crushing method was shown to be showed inhomogeneous, which is expected to lead to a loss of drug. The drug content on assuming clinical a setting after tube passage was compared between the two methods. The recovery of warfarin®, characterized as unstable using the crushing method, was nearly 50%, but loss was prevented by 80% with the use of bags of medicine. For the simple suspension method, the recovery of warfarin® was almost 100%.
Conclusion: The results of this study suggest that the simple suspension method is particularly effective for the tube administration of drugs characterized as unstable.
