Gangrène des doigts après injection accidentelle en intra-artériel de floxacilline : à propos d’un cas

The incidence, significance, and management of accidental intra-arterial injection: a narrative review

This narrative review discusses the incidence, risk factors, mechanisms of injury, complications, and treatment regimens for accidental intra-arterial injection of medications. Despite awareness of the issue and the establishment of safety recommendations by national agencies, accidental iatrogenic intra-arterial injection of medications continues to occur. Most of these injuries are caused by accidental injection into an established arterial cannula or the inadvertent and unrecognized cannulation of an artery instead of a vein. Although many medications have been injected into arteries without significant consequence, a number of drugs are consistently associated with severe morbidity, including the need for amputation, making early incident recognition and treatment vital. Accidental intra-arterial injection of medications has also been increasingly reported in those who use illicit drugs, as these intravenous injection attempts can be misdirected into an artery. These reports have improved understanding of these injuries and possible treatment modalities. While the characteristics of injuries from illicit injections are diverse and the optimal treatment modalities are still uncertain, a regimen that includes anticoagulation and intra-arterial injection of thrombolytics and prostaglandins may improve outcomes. Steroids, vasodilators, and sympathetic blocks do not appear to influence amputation rates. Owing to the small and sporadic number of cases, no definitive clinical trial evidence exists, but the treatment modalities found to be useful in the illicit intra-arterial injection group may benefit treatment of similar iatrogenic injuries.

Near-Complete Hand Loss Following an Unintentional, Intra-arterial Medicine Injection in an Infant

Unintentional, intra-arterial administration of medicines can lead to very serious sequelae, including limb loss. We present a case of a 13-week-old boy who was unintentionally given phenobarbital into his right radial artery, which resulted in a near-complete hand amputation. Pediatric patients are under increased risk of such injuries due to their small vessel size and their inability to express immediate complaints, which often leads to a delayed recognition of the condition. As no specific treatment algorithms have been established, the mainstay of therapy is supportive care aimed at maintaining vascular patency. Prompt recognition is imperative in avoiding potentially detrimental effects; therefore, all personnel administering intravenous therapy should be aware of this possibility and be acquainted with the initial supportive measures.

[Gangrene of the hand due to accidental intra-arterial injection of floxacilline: about a case]

La floxacilline appartient à la classe des pénicillines bêta lactames. Dans notre contexte elle est très utilisée pour lutter contre les infections à germes Gram positif dont le staphylocoque doré. Cependant son utilisation doit être très prudente car elle n’est pas dénuée de complications. Nous rapportons l’observation d’un garçon de 6 ans opéré pour fracture de l’humérus. L’enfant a été mis sous floxacilline injectable après suspicion d’une infection sur matériel 2 mois après son opération. Le lendemain du début de l’antibiothérapie, l’enfant a présenté une ischémie aigue de la main droite. Il nous a alors été adressé pour prise en charge. Les explorations ont objectivé une obstruction de l’artère radiale. Une aponévrotomie de décharge a été réalisée et une héparinothérapie post opératoire a été démarrée. L’évolution a été marquée par une gangrène de toute la main. A travers cette observation nous voulons sensibiliser le personnel soignant sur le risque de survenue de cette complication désastreuse, et les mesures à prendre pour la prévenir.

Evaluation of the effects of intra-arterial sugammadex and dexmedetomidine: an experimental study

BACKGROUND

Intra-arterial injection of medications may cause acute and severe ischemia and result in morbidity and mortality. There is no information in the literature evaluating the arterial endothelial effects of sugammadex and dexmedetomidine. The hypothesis of our study is that sugammadex and dexmedetomidine will cause histological changes in arterial endothelial structure when administered intra-arterially.

METHODS

Rabbits were randomly divided into 4 groups. Group Control (n=7); no intervention performed. Group Catheter (n=7); a cannula inserted in the central artery of the ear, no medication was administered. Group Sugammadex (n=7); rabbits were given 4mg/kg sugammadex into the central artery of the ear, and Group Dexmedetomidine (n=7); rabbits were given 1μg/kg dexmedetomidine into the central artery of the ear. After 72h, the ears were amputated and histologically investigated.

RESULTS

There was no significant difference found between the control and catheter groups in histological scores. The endothelial damage, elastic membrane and elastic fiber damage, smooth muscle hypertrophy and connective tissue increase scores in the dexmedetomidine and sugammadex groups were significantly higher than both the control and the catheter groups (p<0.05). There was no significant difference found between the dexmedetomidine and sugammadex groups in histological scores.

CONCLUSION

Administration of sugammadex and dexmedetomidine to rabbits by intra-arterial routes caused histological arterial damage. To understand the histological changes caused by sugammadex and dexmedetomidine more clearly, more experimental research is needed.