摘要 |
An intravenous drug administration apparatus is provided which automatically delivers a drug with an exponentially decreasing concentration from a high loading concentration down to a patient maintenance concentration followed by continued infusion at the maintenance concentration rate. The apparatus includes a large container, such as an intravenous solution bag, which holds the low maintenance concentration, and a smaller vessel containing the high loading concentration. The low concentration solution is passed from the large volume container into the lower end of the smaller vessel so as to obtain a continuous mixing action within the vessel, and the mixed and progressively diluted solution is continuously removed from the vessel for delivery and infusion to the patient. The inlet to the vessel may be provided by a short length hypodermic needle and the outlet by a long length hypodermic needle which extends into the upper portion of the vessel. This apparatus has been found highly effective for the delivery of lidocaine, an antiarrhythmic drug.
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