Circulatory disturbance is one of the most common pathological conditions that provoke the development of many serious diseases. In such cases, doctors often prescribe “Vazaprostan”. Instructions for use, price, reviews and analogues of this drug are of interest to many patients.
What is this drug? What pathological conditions are prescribed? When is the drug contraindicated? Are adverse reactions observed with its use? Below will be described in detail the instructions for use of “Vazaprostan”. Reviews about the drug by both doctors and patients will also be presented.
How is the medication produced?
The drug is available in the form of a white hygroscopic powder, from which it will be necessary to prepare a solution for intravenous infusions. This information is contained in the annotation to the medication. According to the instructions for use, “Vazaprostan” is not available in tablets.
The powder is in glass ampoules. In each package of the medicine, the manufacturer placed ten ampoules of medicine.
Briefly about the composition of the drug
Despite the fact that the medication has a strong effect and is sold only by prescription, its composition is elementary. The powder consists of three components. The most important is alprostadil. This is the active substance of the drug. One ampoule contains twenty or sixty micrograms of alprostadil. Auxiliary components are alfadex and anhydrous lactose.
Which dosage of the active substance should be preferred at twenty or sixty micrograms? An abstract to the drug shows that the dosage is determined by the doctor. It all depends on the regimen and regimen of the drug, as well as on the severity of the disease. According to the instructions for use of “Vazaprostan”, 60 mg (mcg) of alprostadil must be administered with more complex forms of the disease. Most often, with timely contact to a medical institution, it will be necessary to introduce a drug with a dosage of twenty micrograms.
How does the drug work and what is its feature?
Pharmacological effects on the body
Alprostadil belongs to the group of physiologically active lipid substances called protsanglandins E 1 . Once in the bloodstream, the active substance stimulates microcirculation and restores vascular tone. With the systematic, regular administration of this component, the effect of relaxation of smooth muscle fibers, a vasodilating effect, and a decrease in blood pressure are achieved. At the same time, the indicator of cardiac emissions and heart rate increase. Due to the regular intake of alprostadil in the body, the rheological property of blood improves, the elasticity of red blood cells increases, the process of platelet joining decreases, and the fibrinolytic properties of blood increase.
In addition, the drug has a positive effect on metabolic processes, as it accelerates the utilization of oxygen and glucose, inhibits the release of harmful free radicals, accelerates the process of protein unification, and suppresses cholesterol concentration.
Alprostadil also has a stimulating effect, for example, on the smooth muscles of the bladder, uterus and intestines. At the same time, the active ingredient inhibits the secretion of gastric juice.
If the drug is administered intracavernosally, it blocks the so-called α 1 -adrenoreceptors located in the tissues of the penis, and also improves microcirculation and increases blood flow due to the relaxing effect on cavernous bodies, more precisely, on their smooth muscles. All this stimulates the process of erection. In this case, the onset of the drug occurs in five to ten minutes and can last about one to three hours.
Pharmacokinetic features of the drug
The process of distribution and excretion of the active substance depends on the method of its introduction into the body. For example, with intravenous infusions, alprostadil is metabolized through the lungs to sixty to ninety percent, distributed into three active metabolites. It is excreted mainly through the kidneys, less through the intestines. The half-life is very fast and can be a little more than one minute.
With the introduction of alprostadil intracavernosally, the maximum amount of its metabolite in the bloodstream is detected after half an hour. Metabolism is also carried out very quickly. With this method of infusion, the active substance is determined only in erectile tissue, that is, the cavernous bodies.
When is the appointment of such a serious drug justified?
In which cases use a medication
When is an alprostadil infusion prescribed? According to the instructions for use, the indications of “Vazaprostan” are the following conditions:
- As a temporary supportive therapy for congenital ductus-dependent cardiac pathologies (heart defects in newborns). The drug contributes to the normal functioning of the open ductus arteriosus. It is administered to the baby until the time of surgical intervention to eliminate the defect. This may be mitral atresia, tetralogy of Fallot, atresia of the pulmonary artery or tricuspid valve.
- Obliterating diseases of arteries of a chronic nature of the third or fourth stage of development. It can be obliterating atherosclerosis or thromboangiitis, diabetic angiopathy, scleroderma, Raynaud's syndrome, vasculitis, muscle cramps of the lower extremities of the ultimate vibration.
- Violation of an erection of a vascular, neurogenic, psychogenic or mixed nature.
According to experts, “Vazaprostan” is the best drug for the treatment of the above pathologies. Most often, doctors recommend the use of the drug for diabetes, arterial ischemia and severe thrombosis, when the patient reveals such unpleasant symptoms as non-healing ulcers, numbness and cramps of the lower extremities, blueing or constant feeling of coldness in the legs.
How is it necessary to use the ampoules of “Vazaprostan”? Instructions for use of the drug with recommendations regarding the dosage and treatment regimen will be briefly discussed below.
General information about taking alprostadil
As you can see, “Vazaprostan” is a very serious drug sold in pharmacies strictly according to a doctor’s prescription. Therefore, only a specialist should determine the dosage regimen and duration of the course.
However, below we will discuss the general recommendations of the manufacturer regarding the use of the drug.
It should be noted that the introduction of the drug is carried out using droppers. Instructions for use of “Vazaprostan” explain that the only way to achieve the best therapeutic effect. Many patients complain that infusions are very slow, two to three hours or more. However, such a duration is necessary for better absorption of alprostadil and its optimal effect on the human body.
Before administering the drug, it must be diluted with saline. Most often, twenty micrograms of powder is dissolved in fifty milliliters of saline. However, in some cases, the attending physician may change the dosage of the active substance and prescribe a dilution of the drug in one hundred, or even two hundred milliliters of saline.
The powder dissolves very quickly. In the beginning, the liquid agent may have a cloudy milky consistency. However, after a couple of minutes, the solution becomes clear and uniform. It must be entered in the near future. It is unacceptable to use the finished solution for infusion twelve hours after its preparation.
Alprostadil administration schedule
The dosage and duration of the course depend on the form and intensity of the disease and is prescribed strictly according to the recommendations of the attending physician.
If a patient is diagnosed with a severe form of endarteritis complicated by necrosis, then twenty micrograms of the active substance is injected intravenously once a day.
However, a specialist may ascribe a higher dose. If the patient is prescribed forty micrograms of alprostadil, then the drug is administered to him for two hours twice a day. If the doctor recommended sixty micrograms of the active substance, then droppers are placed once a day for three hours.
In some cases, a vasaprostan infusion using a catheter may be recommended. Most often, such a manipulation is prescribed for severe forms of arterial ischemia or diabetic angiopathy. In this case, the drug is administered for twelve hours.
If the patient suffers from serious cardiac or renal ailments, then the daily volume of the injected solution should not exceed fifty-one hundred milliliters.
Most often, droppers are prescribed daily for four weeks. If the condition improves, the attending physician may recommend taking the drug for another fourteen days.
But it happens that therapy is ineffective. If this situation is observed during the first two weeks after the start of treatment, then the course is interrupted and another drug of a similar spectrum of action is prescribed.
Any recommendations regarding the administration of “Vazaprostan” should come from the attending physician. The patient is forbidden to interrupt the course of treatment on his own or to prescribe analogues of the drug.
When you can not take the remedy
It is not surprising that such a serious drug has a number of contraindications and side effects. This is what we will talk about later.
According to the information from the annotation of the drug, as well as the reviews of practicing physicians, “Vazaprostan” should not be administered to those patients who have a history of ulcerative lesions in the organs of the gastrointestinal tract, chronic heart failure, pulmonary edema, interruptions in the heart rhythm, various liver diseases or disorders in its functioning, bronchial asthma and myocardial infarction suffered during the last six months.
Also, doctors do not recommend using the drug in the treatment of those patients who are at risk of bleeding of various origins, whether it is the presence of proliferative retinopathy, pathological changes in the vessels of the brain, the presence of extensive injuries, and so on.
And, of course, do not forget about the individual intolerance of the components of the drug.
If the drug should be administered intracavernously, then pay attention to the presence of other contraindications in the patient. First of all, they include sickle cell anemia, myeloma and leukemia, as well as various anatomical deformities of the male genital organ. Among the latter, angulation, cavernous fibrosis and Peyronie's disease are especially distinguished. During implantation of the penis and conditions involving the prohibition of sexual intercourse, the introduction of “Vazaprostan” is also not intracavernous.
Future and lactating mothers. Children
According to reviews, “Vazaprostan” is not used to treat pregnant women and women who are breast-feeding. If a young mother needs to take a course of droppers, then breastfeeding should be stopped.
Infusions with alprostadil are extremely carefully prescribed for the treatment of patients whose age is less than eighteen years.
Negative reaction to the solution
Since the drug is a complex and potent drug, its use should be carried out under strict medical supervision in order to avoid the development of serious allergic reactions.
Side effects during the period of treatment with the drug may manifest unpredictable side effects. For example, the digestive system can respond to a solution with nausea and vomiting, diarrhea, and very rarely abdominal pain or hyperbilirubinemia.
The cardiovascular system can also negatively perceive alprostadil. In this case, symptoms such as low blood pressure, heart pain, or tachycardia occur. Less likely are heart rhythm disturbances, manifestations of heart failure, acute pulmonary edema.
The course of droppers can cause a negative reaction on the part of the nervous system. In this case, the patient is concerned about headaches, convulsions or paresthesia, psychosis. Rarely, inhibition may occur.
The circulatory system can also negatively respond to the introduction of alprostadil. In this case, complications are manifested in the form of leukocytosis and leukopenia, less often - bleeding, thrombocytopenia, hypochromic anemia.
Therapy with “Vazaprostan” can lead to such undesirable sensations as joint pain, tension of the cervical muscles, reversible hyperostosis in the tubular bones.
Among other allergic reactions, skin rash and itching, redness of the skin or swelling of the lower limb, increased sweating are possible.
Rarely, against the background of taking the drug, pathologies such as anuria, hematuria, renal failure, hypoglycemia, or hypercapnia can occur.
If “Vazaprostan” is used to improve an erection, then pain in the penis is possible, rashes rarely occur, swelling, numbness, itching or a feeling of heat are manifested. It is also extremely rare that such infusions can provoke fibrosis, hemorrhages, phimosis, bleeding from the penis, pain and (or) swelling of the testicles, pain and (or) tension of the scrotum, urinary incontinence or rapid urination, pain in the pelvis, buttocks, lower back, belly and so on.
Some caveats
According to expert reviews, it is better not to prescribe Alprostadil therapy to patients suffering from mental disorders, mental retardation, drug addiction. In addition, if a person has disrupted the processes responsible for blood coagulation, then with the treatment with “Vazaprostan” he needs to take blood tests for biochemistry and hemodynamics. According to patients, this is not very convenient, but necessary.
Intracavernous administration of the drug for venous thrombosis, thrombophlebitis, urethritis, thrombocytopenia should be carried out under close supervision of the attending physician. There is no reliable information on the use of this method in the treatment of patients older than 75 years and under 18.
With prolonged treatment with the drug, symptoms of apnea may occur. Thinning of the pulmonary artery and rupture of the duct wall are also likely.
It is also very important when using “Vazaprostan” to control blood pressure indicators.
This is especially important in the case of therapy for newborns.
Interaction with other drugs
According to expert reviews, alprostadil can not be used in conjunction with other drugs to improve an erection.
It should also be borne in mind that the active substance enhances the effect of antihypertensive agents, as well as vasodilators, antiplatelet agents, anticoagulants, thrombolytics and so on.
On the other hand, sympathomimetics lower the effectiveness of alprostadil. Therefore, before therapy, it is better to abandon the use of the above medicines in advance.
When using Vazaprostan, alcohol should be avoided.
Moreover, it should be borne in mind that the drug has an effect on the speed of the reaction, so when completing the course it is better not to drive and not perform work that requires a quick response.
Drug cost
According to reviews, the price of “Vazaprostan” is the most unpleasant moment in the process of treatment with the drug. The course of therapy can cost one hundred thousand rubles or more. This is because the price of ten ampoules with a dosage of twenty micrograms varies in the range of nine to ten thousand rubles. If the doctor prescribes a higher dosage, then it will be necessary to purchase a drug with an amount of the active substance of sixty micrograms. And this is fifteen to sixteen thousand rubles for a package of ten ampoules.
However, the result is worth it. And this is confirmed by the numerous reviews of patients who took “Vazaprostan”.
What people say
According to numerous reviews, the drug is an effective remedy for cramps in the lower extremities, lameness, trophic ulcers associated with arterial ischemia or diabetic retinopathy. This remedy helped many to avoid serious complications, such as amputation and disability.
On the other hand, many complain about the exorbitant cost of Vazaprostan. , , .
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