Studies in phlebitis. IV: Injection rate and amiodarone-induced phlebitis.

Using a rabbit ear model and techniques developed previously (1) the relationship between injection rate and injection phlebitis is investigated for amiodarone HCl and its vehicle. A number of injection rates ranging from 0.02 to 3.0 ml/min are studied using this model. Thermal measurements and visual evaluations are used for phlebitis quantitation. The severity of phlebitis is found to be dependent upon the injection rate for amiodarone HCl while the vehicle did not produce phlebitis at any rate. Strong correlations between the thermal measurements and visual evaluations are found for both amiodarone HCl and its vehicle.