QUINIDINE SULFATE IN PROPYLENE GLYCOL BY INTRAMUSCULAR INJECTION IN MAN

Abstract

The need for a satisfactory preparation of quinidine for intramuscular injection in the treatment of disorders of cardiac rhythm has been frequently expressed in the literature. In a considerable proportion of patients, the local irritant action of quinidine in the gastrointestinal tract causing pain, nausea and vomiting, and especially diarrhea, is a bar to the use of sufficiently large doses to bring the ectopic rhythm under control. When the oral route is not possible, intravenous administration is usually substituted, but there are risks in the intravenous use of quinidine in cardiac disorders. Quinine dihydrochloride has been used by intramuscular injection, but this produces painful inflammatory induration at the site of injection.¹ A 15 per cent solution of quinidine hydrochloride dissolved in water with antipyrine and urea has been used with apparent success and with negligible local irritant action.² However, a similar preparation of commerce with which we were