Nancy Toedter Williams

Medication administration through enteral feeding tubes

PURPOSE An overview of enteral feeding tubes, drug administration techniques, considerations for dosage form selection, common drug interactions with enteral formulas, and methods to minimize tube occlusion is given. SUMMARY Enteral nutrition through a feeding tube is the preferred method of nutrition support in patients who have a functioning gastrointestinal tract but who are unable to be fed orally. This method of delivering nutrition is also commonly used for administering medications when patients cannot swallow safely. However, several issues must be considered with concurrent administration of oral medications and enteral formulas. Incorrect administration methods may result in clogged feeding tubes, decreased drug efficacy, increased adverse effects, or drug-formula incompatibilities. Various enteral feeding tubes are available and are typically classified by site of insertion and location of the distal tip of the feeding tube. Liquid medications, particularly elixirs and suspensions, are preferred for enteral administration; however, these formulations may be hypertonic or contain large amounts of sorbitol, and these properties increase the potential for adverse effects. Before solid dosage forms are administered through the feeding tube, it should be determined if the medications are suitable for manipulation, such as crushing a tablet or opening a capsule. Medications should not be added directly to the enteral formula, and feeding tubes should be properly flushed with water before and after each medication is administered. To minimize drug-nutrient interactions, special considerations should be taken when administering phenytoin, carbamazepine, warfarin, fluoroquinolones, and proton pump inhibitors via feeding tubes. Precautions should be implemented to prevent tube occlusions, and immediate intervention is required when blockages occur. CONCLUSION Successful drug delivery through enteral feeding tubes requires consideration of the tube size and placement as well as careful selection and appropriate administration of drug dosage forms.

Drug-Induced Yawning—A Review

Objective: To review the current literature on drug-induced yawning. Data Sources: Literature was accessed through MEDLINE/PubMed (1996-July 2011), International Pharmaceutical Abstracts (1997-July 2011), and EMBASE, using the search terms yawning, drug-induced yawning, and adverse drug reactions. Study Selection and Data Extraction: Relevant clinical trials and case reports were selected and included to present background information. Bibliographies of all relevant articles were reviewed for additional citations. Data Synthesis: Yawning is a common stereotype behavior with unknown physiologic function that occurs in most vertebrates and humans as early as 15 weeks of intrauterine life. Yawning Is under the control of several neurotransmitters and neuropeptides, Including dopamine, serotonin, oxytocin, and acetylcholine. Among drugs, antidepressants, opioids, dopaminergic agents, benzodiazepines, and induction agents are the main pharmacologic classes associated with yawning. Conclusions: Yawning is rarely a serious adverse reaction and is not frequently listed in the drug summary. Most available data are based on case reports, small studies, and older literature. Clinicians should be aware of the agents commonly triggering this behavior.

Tracking the Growth of Drug Therapy Literature Using PubMed

The biomedical literature has exploded over the past 50 years. The purpose of this study was to track the growth of drug therapy literature using the online provider PubMed. We utilized the first 20 Disease [C] MeSH listed on the 2005 MeSH tree structures for our study. Drug therapy literature was searched using the disease MeSH with the ending/drug therapy or/chemically induced. Publication numbers were compiled each year from 1966 to 2003. Disease articles increased by 612% from 1966 to 2003. Drug therapy articles increased by 1,116% during the same period. As a percentage of all disease articles, drug therapy publications increased from 11% to 18% over this time period. Drug therapy review articles grew by 10,521% over the time period; drug therapy randomized clinical trials increased by 5,228%. Geriatric drug therapy articles increased at a greater rate than pediatric literature (1,210% vs. 637%). Infectious disease (14%), oncology (14%), immunologic diseases (10%), cardiovascular disease (9%), and neurologic/psychiatric diseases (8%) constitute the highest percentages of all drug therapy articles. Drug therapy literature is growing at a faster rate than the disease literature on PubMed. Drug therapy review articles alone are approaching 10,000 articles/year and are the fastest growing subsection of the drug therapy literature on PubMed.

Glucagon-Like Peptide-1 (GLP-1) Receptor Agonists in Cardiac Disorders:

Objective: To evaluate the literature about the use of glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1 RAs) in the treatment of cardiac disorders, specifically myocardial infarction (MI) and heart failure (HF). Data Sources: Searches were conducted in MEDLINE (1946-May 2016) and Excerpta Medica (1980-May 2016) using EMBASE with the search terms glucagon-like peptide 1, exenatide, albiglutide, liraglutide, dulaglutide, myocardial infarction, heart failure, and cardiovascular. The references of relevant articles were reviewed to identify additional citations. Study Selection and Data Extraction: Clinical trials were limited to the English language and human trials. In all, 18 trials explored the use of GLP-1 RAs in the treatment of cardiac disorders in patients with and without diabetes mellitus. Data Synthesis: Of the 18 trials reviewed, 11 trials studied the impact of GLP-1 RAs in MI. All showed a significant beneficial effect on various cardiac parameters. Favorable outcome improvements included myocardial blood flow, left ventricular (LV) function, and MI size. Seven trials reviewed the use of GLP-1 RAs in the treatment of HF. Three trials showed significant improvements in LV ejection fraction, cardiac index, and peak oxygen consumption. Conclusions: Limited data suggest that GLP-1 RAs may be effective for the treatment of cardiac disorders in patients with and without diabetes mellitus. These studies suggest that GLP-1 RAs may have potential pleiotropic beneficial effects in patients with cardiovascular disease beyond their role in managing diabetes. These medications may be cardioprotective after a MI but are less promising in HF.

Vulvodynia: A Review of the Literature

Objective: To evaluate the literature and educate the pharmacy community about the different treatment options for vulvodynia. Data Sources: Searches were performed through MEDLINE (1946-May 2018) using OVID and EBSCOhost, and Excerpta Medica (1974-May 2018) using EMBASE. Search terms included vulvar vestibulitis syndrome, vestibulodynia, vulvodynia, vulvar pain, provoked vulvar vestibulitis, and vulvodynia treatment. References of all relevant articles were then used to find additional applicable articles. Study Selection and Data Extraction: This review includes articles in the English language and human trial literature. Twenty-five trials explored the use of oral and topical medications in the treatment of vulvodynia. Data Synthesis: Vulvodynia is a poorly understood disease with an unknown etiology. Oral tricyclic antidepressants and gabapentin continue to be the most commonly used treatments for vulvodynia pain. This is due to their ease of use and patient preference. Topical treatments that have efficacy data are amitriptyline, gabapentin, lidocaine, baclofen, and hormones. This route of administration avoids systemic adverse effects and interpatient variability that accompanies oral administration. Alternative therapies more commonly used include physiotherapy, psychotherapy, and surgery. Treatment length may vary due to dose titrations and potential changes in medication therapy. Conclusions: Several medication and alternative therapies may be effective in treating vulvodynia. Current studies used wide dosing ranges, making it difficult to standardize therapy. No consistent method of assessing pain was used between studies, as well as a limited number being randomized and placebo controlled. Additional research is needed to increase knowledge and further develop vulvodynia treatments.