Author: Adem Ugurlu (Turkey)
Co-authors:
Purpose
To compare the syringe preparation time for ranibizumab prefilled syringe versus bevacizumab, ranibizumab and aflibercept vial in routine retinal practice.
Setting/Venue
The study was conducted as retrospective design between July 2019-February 2020 in Erzincan Binali Yildirim University Faculty of Medicine Department of Ophthalmology, Turkey.
Methods
Data of syringe preparation time results of 157 eyes were collected for the study. For each injection, one independent observer recorded the duration of each step required to prepare the syringe, from starting to remove the ranibizumab prefilled syringe or bevacizumab, ranibizumab and aflibercept vial from its packaging to having the dose ready to inject. Six injection-preparation steps were identified when using bevacizumab, ranibizumab and aflibercept vials as; removing contents from box and internal packaging, putting gloves on, attaching filter needle, drawing solution from vial using filter needle, removing filter needle and attaching injection needle, adjusting dose. Four injection-preparation steps were identified when using ranibizumab prefilled syringe as; removing contents from box and internal packaging, putting gloves on, removing syringe cap and attaching injection needle, adjusting dose. Injections were excluded if there were disruptions during the drug-administration process that were due to external factors or if there were other causes of error in measuring the preparation time.
Results
Forty five eyes were treated with ranibizumab prefilled syringe while 40 eyes with bevacizumab, 36 eyes with ranibizumab and 36 eyes with aflibercept vial in the study. The mean injection preparation times were 46.5±4.8 s, 66.1±7.2 s, 64.2±5.1 s, 74.7±8.5 s for ranibizumab prefilled syringe, bevacizumab, ranibizumab and aflibercept vials, respectively. Injection preparation time was significantly lower in ranibizumab prefilled syringe group. Aflibercept vial preparation time was significantly higher than other intravitreal drugs in the study.
Conlusions
Ranibizumab prefilled syringe required fewer preparation steps and bubbles occurred less frequently when using the PFS than when using other vials. Especially, when preparing aflibercept vial for injection, due to the bubbles, dose adjusting step was getting longer than bevacizumab and ranibizumab vial.
Financial Disclosure
The author declares no financial disclosure and conflicts of interest in the study.
Comments
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