Long-term stability of morphine and bupivacaine mixture for spinal use
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Published on: November 6, 2018
C M Essink-Tjebbes1, D M Burger, M Beelen
1Department of Clinical Pharmacy, University Hospital Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
Abstract:
From clinical studies it has been proven that morphine in combination with bupivacaine is applicable in cancer pain. The availability of a ready to use parental dosage form of morphine and bupivacaine is comfortable for health care workers. Stability of a morphine or a bupivacaine preparation or a combination of both in a PVC cassette or polypropylene syringe for spinal use is examined in several studies. Apart from one study no data on long-term stability of morphine-bupivacaine mixture is available. A forced degradation study and a shelf-life study at room temperature (20-25 degrees C) were started on morphine hydrochloride 0.2 mg/ml and bupivacaine hydrochloride 7.5 mg/ml in 50 ml sterilized glass bottles type II. The results of the stability study showed that this mixture was stable up to 18 months at room temperature, whereafter morphine showed a slight degradation (5%) and bupivacaine remained stable.
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