INTRAMASCULAR ROUTE OF DRUG ADMINISTRATION

INTRAMASCULAR ROUTE OF DRUG ADMINISTRATION:  The intramuscular route of drug administration is another commonly used technique, where the drug bolus is directly deposited into the muscle tissue using a an injection device.  This is one of the most commonly used routes of drug administration especially in patient who are not able to swallow medication or those that need emergency medicine.  It should be noted however that this route is an invasive procedure and therefore requires a trained medical personnel to perform it, and specialized sterile techniques.

PROCEDURE:  In this type of drug administration, the very first thing is to sterilize the site where the needle is to be injected into the skin, so as not to introduce microbes into the body.  this is done via application of sterile agents such as ethyl alcohol swabs or any available disinfectant.  The needle then, is inserted into the muscle at an angle of 90 degrees perpendicular to the skin surface as shown in the picture above.  Then the drug is released and the bolus is deposited into the muscle tissue.  the released bolus will then leave the muscle tissue where it is deposited slowly, entering blood circulation.  From there, the drug will be leaving the injection site slowly entering the blood circulation to the target organs.

Examples of drugs administered intramuscularly:  1)  For severe malaria, Artemisinin component Artesunate can be administer this way in comparison to oral Artemether and Lumefantrine.

2.  Most of the vaccines are also administered this way.  To read more about administration of vaccines follow the link below.

Vaccination of neonates

RELATED;

1.  PHARMACOKINETICS

2.  PHARMACODYNAMICS

3.  ARTEMISININ COMBINATION THERAPIES

4.  THE ORAL ROUTE OF DRUG ADMINISTRATION

REFERENCES