Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2018 Jul;25(4):214-217.
doi: 10.1136/ejhpharm-2016-000965. Epub 2016 Oct 17.

Physicochemical stability of oxycodone-ketamine solutions in polypropylene syringe and polyvinyl chloride bag for patient-controlled analgesia use

Mikaël Daouphars  1 , Charles-Henri Hervouët  2 , Pierre Bohn  3 , Delphine Martin  4 , Jean Rouvet  1 , Florence Basuyau  1 , Rémi Varin  2
Affiliations

Physicochemical stability of oxycodone-ketamine solutions in polypropylene syringe and polyvinyl chloride bag for patient-controlled analgesia use

Mikaël Daouphars et al. Eur J Hosp Pharm. 2018 Jul.

Abstract

Objectives: The study evaluated the stability of three combinations of oxycodone and ketamine diluted in normal saline (NS) after storage for 7 days at 23°C and exposed to light.

Methods: The stability of three mixtures of oxycodone and ketamine (oxycodone 0.4 mg/mL+ketamine 40 mg/mL, oxycodone 10 mg/mL+ketamine 0.1 mg/mL and oxycodone 10 mg/mL+ketamine 40 mg/mL) in NS stored in a polypropylene syringe and a polyvinyl chloride (PVC) bag was studied. The physical characteristics, including pH, colour and precipitation, were evaluated. The samples were analysed in triplicate by a stability-indicating high-performance liquid chromatography method.

Results: There was no significant change in the pH values of any solution. No precipitation or change in colour was observed. All formulations maintained more than 95% of the initial concentration of each drug on day 7. No trace of degradation products was detected.

Conclusions: Ketamine (0.1-40 mg/mL) combined with oxycodone (0.4-10 mg/mL) is physically compatible and chemically stable for 7 days when diluted with NS, packaged in polypropylene syringe or PVC bag and stored at 23°C.

Keywords: HPLC; ONCOLOGY; PCA; ketamine; oxycodone.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Competing interests: None declared.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Typical chromatogram for day 7. Oxycodone eluted at approximately 6.36 min, naloxone (internal standard) at approximately 7.94 min and ketamine at approximately 10.21 min. The degradation products seen in the accelerated degradation studies were not observed. The dotted line represents the percentage of phosphate buffer over time for the mobile phase concentration gradient phosphate buffer/acetonitrile.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Observed concentration of oxycodone (as mean percentage of initial concentration±SD) in mixtures with ketamine. Test solutions identified as ketamine (K) mixed with oxycodone (O) concentrations in mg/mL, with blue bars for polypropylene syringes and green bars for polyvinyl chloride bags.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Observed concentration of ketamine (as mean percentage of initial concentration±SD) in mixtures with oxycodone. Test solutions identified as ketamine (K) mixed with oxycodone (O) concentrations in mg/mL, with blue bars for polypropylene syringes and green bars for polyvinyl chloride bags.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Swanson G, Smith J, Bulich R, et al. . Patient-controlled analgesia for chronic cancer pain in the ambulatory setting: a report of 117 patients. J Clin Oncol 1989;7:1903–8. - PubMed
    1. Staahl C, Christrup LL, Andersen SD, et al. . A comparative study of oxycodone and morphine in a multi-modal, tissue-differentiated experimental pain model. Pain 2006;123:28–36. 10.1016/j.pain.2006.02.006 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Lenz H, Sandvik L, Qvigstad E, et al. . A comparison of intravenous oxycodone and intravenous morphine in patient-controlled postoperative analgesia after laparoscopic hysterectomy. Anesth Analg 2009;109:1279–83. 10.1213/ane.0b013e3181b0f0bb - DOI - PubMed
    1. Schmid RL, Sandler AN, Katz J. Use and efficacy of low-dose ketamine in the management of acute postoperative pain: a review of current techniques and outcomes. Pain 1999;82:111–25. 10.1016/S0304-3959(99)00044-5 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Donnelly RF. Physical compatibility and chemical stability of ketamine–morphine mixtures in polypropylene syringes. Can J Hosp Pharm 2009;62:28–33. 10.4212/cjhp.v62i1.114 - DOI - PMC - PubMed