Autoinjector

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Autoinjector

An autoinjector (or auto-injector) is a medical device

Medical device

A medical device is an object which is useful for diagnostic or therapeutic purposes. Examples of medical devices include medical thermometers, blood glucose monitorings, and X-ray machines....
designed to deliver a single dose

Dose

Dose means quantity in the following fields:In nutrition, medicine, and toxicology:* Dose , the quantity of something that may be ingestion by or Drug delivery to an organism, or that an organism may be exposed to....
of a particular (typically life-saving) drug

Medication

A pharmaceutical drug, also referred to as medicine or medicament, can be loosely defined as any substance intended for use in the diagnosis, cure, mitigation, treatment, or prevention of disease....
.

Most autoinjectors are spring-loaded syringe

Syringe

A syringe is a simple piston pump consisting of a plunger that fits tightly in a tube. The plunger can be pulled and pushed along inside a cylindrical tube , allowing the syringe to take in and expel a liquid or gas through an orifice at the open end of the tube....
s. By design, autoinjectors are easy to use and are intended for self-administration by patients.

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Examples

EpiPen
EpiPen

EpiPen is a registered trademark for a commonly used autoinjector of epinephrine , used in medicine to treat anaphylactic shock....
s, or the recently introduced Twinject
Twinject

Twinject is the registered trademark of the first epinephrine autoinjector that contains two doses. It is used in medicine as an emergency treatment for severe allergic reaction ....
, which is often prescribed to people who are at risk for anaphylaxis
Anaphylaxis

Anaphylaxis is an acute Circulatory system and very severe Type I hypersensitivity allergy reaction in humans and other mammals. The term comes from the Greek words a?a ana and f??a??? phylaxis ....
.
Rebiject and Rebiject II autoinjectors for Rebif, the drug for interferon beta-1a
Interferon beta-1a

Interferon beta-1a is a medication in the interferon family used to treat multiple sclerosis . It is produced by mammalian cells while Interferon beta-1b is produced in modified E....
used to treat Multiple Sclerosis
Multiple sclerosis

Multiple sclerosis is an autoimmune disease in which the immune system attacks the central nervous system, leading to demyelinating disease. Disease onset usually occurs in young adults, and it is more common in females....
.
SureClick
SureClick

SureClick is a needle-based, spring-loaded, plunger-drive autoinjector medical device . It is disposable, self-injectable, pen-shaped, and portable....
autoinjector is a combination product for drugs Enbrel or Aranesp to treat arthritis
Arthritis

Arthritis is a group of conditions involving damage to the joints of the body. Arthritis is the leading cause of disability in people older than fifty-five years....
or anemia
Anemia

Anemia or an?mia/anaemia is defined as a qualitative or quantitative deficiency of hemoglobin, a protein found inside red blood cells ....
, respectively.

Military Use

Morphine
Morphine

Morphine is a highly potent opiate analgesic Medication, is the principal active agent in opium, and is considered to be the prototypical opioid....
is routinely carried by troops on operations and in battle in the case of injuries or severe pain. The wounded soldier is immediately injected to relieve pain, and is then usually taken back or field operated. Morphine
Morphine

Morphine is a highly potent opiate analgesic Medication, is the principal active agent in opium, and is considered to be the prototypical opioid....
in auto-injectors during the World Wars and the Vietnam War was common and was often used as an analgesic
Analgesic

An analgesic is any member of the diverse group of Medication used to relieve pain . The word analgesic derives from Greek an- and algos ....
during field operations.
Autoinjectors are often used in the military to protect personnel from chemical warfare
Chemical warfare

Chemical warfare involves using the poison of chemical substances as weapons to kill, injure, or incapacitate an Enemy .This type of warfare is distinct from the use of conventional weapons or nuclear weapons because the destructive effects of chemical weapons are not primarily due to their explosion force....
agents. In the U.S. military, atropine
Atropine

Atropine is a tropane alkaloid extracted from deadly nightshade , jimsonweed , Mandrake and other plants of the family Solanaceae. It is a secondary metabolite of these plants and serves as a hard drug with a wide variety of effects....
and 2-PAM-Cl (pralidoxime chloride) are used for first aid
First aid

First aid is the provision of initial care for an illness or injury. It is usually performed by a layman to a sick or injured Casualty until definitive medical treatment can be accessed....
("buddy care" or "self care") against nerve agents. An issue item, the Mark I NAAK
Mark I NAAK

The Mark I NAAK, or MARK I Kit, is United States military nomenclature for the "Nerve Agent Antidote Kit". It is a dual-chamber auto-injector: Two anti-nerve agent drugs ? atropine sulfate and pralidoxime chloride ? each in injectable form, constitute the kit....
kit, provides these drugs in the form of separate autoinjectors. A newer model, the ATNAA (Antidote Treatment Nerve Agent Auto-Injector), has both drugs in one syringe, allowing for the simplification of administration procedures. In the Gulf War
Gulf War

"Persian Gulf War" and "First Gulf War" redirect here. For other uses, see Persian Gulf War .The Persian Gulf War was a United Nations-authorized military conflict between Iraq and a Coalition of Gulf War from 34 nations commissioned with expelling Iraqi forces from Kuwait after Iraq's Invasion of Kuwait of Kuwait in August 1990....
, accidental and unnecessary use of atropine
Atropine

Atropine is a tropane alkaloid extracted from deadly nightshade , jimsonweed , Mandrake and other plants of the family Solanaceae. It is a secondary metabolite of these plants and serves as a hard drug with a wide variety of effects....
autoinjectors supplied to Israel
Israel

Israel officially the State of Israel , is a country in the Middle East located on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. It borders Lebanon in the north, Syria in the northeast, Jordan in the east, and Egypt on the southwest, and contains geographically diverse features within its relatively small area....
i civilians proved to be a major medical problem.
In concert with the Mark I NAAK, diazepam
Diazepam

Diazepam , first marketed as Valium by Hoffmann-La Roche, is a benzodiazepine derivative drug. It possesses anxiolytic, anticonvulsant, hypnotic, sedative, skeletal muscle relaxant and amnestic properties....
(Valium) autoinjectors, known as CANA
Cana

In the Christian New Testament, the Gospel of John refers a number of times to a town called Cana of Galilee....
, are carried by US servicemembers for use in prevention of the seizures caused by nerve agent
Nerve agent

Nerve agents, also referred to as nerve gases though these chemicals are liquid at room temperature, are a class of phosphorus-containing organic chemistry that disrupt the mechanism by which nerves transfer messages to organs....
s.

Gas Jet Autoinjector

A newer variant of the autoinjector is the gas jet autoinjector, which contains a cylinder of pressurised gas and propels a fine jet of liquid through the skin without the use of a needle. This has the advantage that the autoinjector can be reloaded, and a variety of different doses or different drugs can be used, although the only widespread application to date has been for the administration of insulin

Insulin

Insulin is a hormone with extensive effects on both metabolism and several other body systems . Insulin causes most of the body's cells to take up glucose from the blood , storing it as glycogen in the liver and muscle, and stops use of fat as an energy source....
in the treatment of diabetes.

Autoinjector

Examples

Military Use

Gas Jet Autoinjector

See also