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VANCOMYCIN is a brand name for Vancomycin, supplied as a solution. The medicine, its uses, side effects and dosage are the same regardless of brand.
Verbatim from this product's HC label. Tap a section to expand.
Vancomycin Injection, USP is contraindicated in patients with known hypersensitivity to the antibiotic. , over several minutes) of vancomycin hydrochloride. Toxic serum levels can occur when given intravenously. Vancomycin is excreted fairly rapidly by the kidney and with decreased renal clearance, blood levels increase markedly.
The risk of toxicity appears appreciably increased by high blood concentrations or prolonged treatment during parenteral therapy. Orally, vancomycin is poorly absorbed. Therefore, toxic serum levels are not attained from oral dosage.
(Note: Vancomycin Injection, USP is not available for the oral route of administration). When serum levels exceed 80 mcg/mL, ototoxicity has occurred. Tinnitus may precede deafness. The elderly are more likely to experience auditory damage.
Deafness may be progressive despite cessation of treatment, as experience with other antibiotics suggests. Careful monitoring is required with concurrent and sequential use of other neurotoxic and/or nephrotoxic agents, particularly aminoglycoside antibiotics, cephaloridine, polymixin B, colistin, viomycin, paromomycin, cisplatin and neuromuscular blocking agents.
If parenteral and oral vancomycin are administered concomitantly, an additive effect may occur, which should be considered when calculating the total dose given. Levels of vancomycin in serum should be monitored in these circumstances.
Solutions containing dextrose should be use with caution, if at all, in patients with known allergy to corn or corn products. Susceptibility/Resistance Development of Drug Resistant Bacteria Prescribing Vancomycin Injection, USP in the absence of a proven or strongly suspected bacterial infection is unlikely to provide benefit to the patient and risks the development of drug-resistant bacteria.
PRECAUTIONS To avoid rapid infusion-related reactions, Vancomycin Injection, USP should be administered over a period of not less than 60 minutes. A prompt cessation of these reactions usually results when the infusion is stopped (see DOSAGE AND ADMINISTRATION and ADVERSE REACTIONS).
Vancomycin hydrochloride should be used with care in patients with renal insufficiency because of its ototoxicity and nephrotoxicity. The dose and/or dose intervals should be adjusted carefully and blood levels monitored if it is necessary to use vancomycin parenterally in patients with renal impairment.
In patients with previous hearing loss, vancomycin should be avoided (if possible). 9% Sodium Chloride Page 4 of 23 blood. Serial tests of auditory function and of vancomycin blood levels should be performed in patients with renal insufficiency and in individuals over the age of 60.
Periodic hematologic studies, urinalyses and liver and renal function tests should be taken in all patients receiving vancomycin. The overgrowth of non-susceptible organisms may result with the use of vancomycin. Appropriate measures should be taken if new infections due to bacteria or fungi appear during therapy with this product.
Not medical advice. Always read the patient information leaflet and follow your prescriber or pharmacist.
Other brands of Vancomycin in Canada.
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Brand names are compiled from public regulatory records for active-ingredient mapping only. Drugvu is not affiliated with any manufacturer. This is not medical advice.
These measures should include the withdrawal of vancomycin. In rare instances, there have been reports of pseudomembranous colitis due to Clostridium difficile developing in patients who receive intravenous vancomycin. Vancomycin should never be given intramuscularly.
Vancomycin is irritating to tissue and causes drug fever, pain and possibly necrosis if injected intramuscularly. Therefore, it must be administered intravenously. In many patients receiving vancomycin, pain and thrombophlebitis occur and are occasionally severe.
By administering the drug in a volume of at least 200 mL of glucose or saline solution and by rotating the sites of injection, the frequency and severity of thrombophlebitis can be minimized. The frequency of infusion-related events (including hypotension, flushing, erythema, urticaria and pruritus) has been reported to increase with concomitant administration of anesthetic agents.
The administration of vancomycin hydrochloride as a 60-minute infusion prior to anesthetic induction may minimize infusion-related events. The safety and efficacy of administering vancomycin by the intrathecal (intralumbar or intraventricular) route have not been assessed.
Some patients with inflammatory disorders of the intestinal mucosa may have significant systemic absorption of oral vancomycin and may thus be at risk of developing adverse reactions associated with parenteral administration of vancomycin.
This risk is greater in the presence of renal impairment. Total systemic and renal clearance of vancomycin are reduced in the elderly. (Note: Vancomycin Injection, USP is not available for the oral route of administration). When patients with underlying renal dysfunction or those receiving concomitant therapy with an aminoglycoside are being treated, serial monitoring of renal function should be performed.
Use in Pregnancy Vancomycin should be given during pregnancy only if clearly needed. 7 mcg/mL were measured in cord blood of 2/10 pregnant women treated with vancomycin in a controlled clinical study of serious staphylococcal infection complicating intravenous drug abuse.
Because the number of patients treated in this study was small and vancomycin administered only in the second and third trimesters, it is not known whether vancomycin causes fetal harm. Nursing Mothers Vancomycin is excreted in human milk.
Caution should be exercised if vancomycin is administered to a nursing mother. The potential for adverse effects warrants that a decision be made whether to discontinue nursing of the infant or administration of vancomycin, taking into account the importance of the drug to the nursing […]