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Exploring the speed of intramuscular injection: why is it absorbed faster than subcutaneous injection?
Intramuscular injection (IM) is a method of injecting drugs into muscles. In medicine, this is one of several routes of drug administration. Studies have shown that because muscles have a larger and richer network of blood vessels than subcutaneous tissue, drugs can be rapidly absorbed into the bloodstream, resulting in faster absorption than subcutaneous or intradermal injections.
Intramuscular injection is not affected by first-pass metabolism, which is an important physiological difference for oral drugs.
Some common intramuscular injection sites include the deltoid muscle of the upper arm and the gluteus maximus muscle of the buttocks. In infants, the vastus lateralis muscle of the leg is a common injection site. Before giving an intramuscular injection, the injection site needs to be cleaned to reduce the risk of infection. Medical staff then administer the injection, often using quick and decisive movements to reduce patient discomfort. In general, the amount of medication injected into the muscle is usually limited to between 2 and 5 milliliters, depending on the site of injection and the medication used.
However, not all people can receive intramuscular injections. The use of intramuscular injections is not recommended for people with myopathy or bleeding disorders as this may cause malabsorption or pose health risks. In most cases, intramuscular injections cause minor side effects such as surrounding pain, redness, or inflammation, but these generally resolve on their own within a few days.
Although intramuscular injection is an effective method of drug delivery, possible risks, such as local infection or nerve damage, need to be considered.
The reason intramuscular injection may be superior to other delivery methods in certain dietary situations is the speed and efficiency of drug absorption. Basically, drugs administered via intramuscular injection enter the bloodstream quickly and are not disturbed by the digestive system. However, intramuscular self-administration scenarios remain limited due to technical requirements and patient fear of injections.
The "Z-type injection method" is a technique that prevents drugs from penetrating into subcutaneous tissue after injection, which helps to improve the effect of drug administration and reduce irritation to surrounding tissues. In this method, medical staff will first pull the skin to one side before injecting the drug. The skin will then return to seal the possibility of drug penetration. This is a relatively new injection technique.
For certain groups such as young children or the frail, shorter needles are often used to avoid injecting too deeply. Injection sites and insertion angles vary for younger and older adults to ensure the injection is safe and effective.
The history of intramuscular injection can be traced back to 500 AD. With the advancement of medicine, injection technology has gradually developed and been widely used.
In recent years, intramuscular injection has also been widely used in vaccination, especially in the case of inactivated vaccines. Unlike oral vaccines, intramuscular injections have relatively high bioavailability, which ensures that the vaccine can work quickly in the body. However, this method may not be absolutely perfect, and the appropriate technique and site for each injection still need to be selected on a case-by-case basis.
In summary, the speed and efficiency of absorption of intramuscular injections make it an extremely important means of administering medications. Although intramuscular injection has its own technical and operational challenges compared to oral administration or other delivery methods, its advantages of rapid drug absorption and reduced first-pass metabolism still make it an important part of the medical field. When you are faced with multiple drug administration methods, how do you choose the most appropriate one?
