Deaths in preterm infants after infusion of intravenous fat emulsion have been reported in the medical literature. 2 Autopsy findings included intravascular fat accumulation in the lungs. Treatment of premature and low birth weight infants with intravenous fat emulsion must be based upon careful benefit-risk assessment. Strict adherence to the recommended total daily dose is mandatory; hourly infusion rate should be as slow as possible in each case and the total fat should not in any case exceed 1 g fat/kg in four hours. Premature and small for gestational age infants have poor clearance of intravenous fat emulsion and increased free fatty acid plasma levels following fat emulsion infusion; therefore, serious consideration must be given to administration of less than the maximum recommended doses in these patients in order to decrease the likelihood of intravenous fat overload. The infant’s ability to eliminate the infused fat from the circulation must be carefully monitored (such as serum triglycerides and/or plasma free fatty acid levels). The lipemia must clear between daily infusions.
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WARNINGS Deaths in preterm infants after infusion of intravenous fat emulsion have been reported in the medical literature. 2 Autopsy findings included intravascular fat accumulation in the lungs. Treatment of premature and low birth weight infants with intravenous fat emulsion must be based upon careful benefit-risk assessment. Strict adherence to the recommended total daily dose is mandatory; hourly infusion rate should be as slow as possible in each case and the total fat should not in any case exceed 1 g fat/kg in four hours. Premature and small for gestational age infants have poor clearance of intravenous fat emulsion and increased free fatty acid plasma levels following fat emulsion infusion; therefore, serious consideration must be given to administration of less than the maximum recommended doses in these patients in order to decrease the likelihood of intravenous fat overload. The infant’s ability to eliminate the infused fat from the circulation must be carefully monitored (such as serum triglycerides and/or plasma free fatty acid levels). The lipemia must clear between daily infusions. Caution should be exercised in administering of Intralipid ® 30% to patients with severe liver damage, pulmonary disease, anemia or blood coagulation disorders, or when there is danger of fat embolism. WARNING: This product contains aluminum that may be toxic. Aluminum may reach toxic levels with prolonged parenteral administration if kidney function is impaired. Premature neonates are particularly at risk because their kidneys are immature, and they require large amounts of calcium and phosphate solutions, which contain aluminum. Research indicates that patients with impaired kidney function, including premature neonates, who receive parenteral levels of aluminum at greater than 4 to 5 mcg/kg/day accumulate aluminum at levels associated with central nervous system and bone toxicity. Tissue loading may occur at even lower rates of administration.
ADVERSE REACTIONS The adverse reactions observed can be separated into two classes: Those more frequently encountered are due either to a) contamination of the intravenous catheter and result in sepsis, or to b) vein irritation by concurrently infused hypertonic solutions and may result in thrombophlebitis. These adverse reactions are inseparable from the hyperalimentation procedure with or without Intralipid ® . Less frequent reactions more directly related to Intralipid ® are: a) immediate or early adverse reactions, each of which has been reported to occur in clinical trials, in an incidence of less than 1%: dyspnea, cyanosis, allergic reactions, hyperlipemia, hypercoagulability, nausea, vomiting, headache, flushing, increase in temperature, sweating, sleepiness, pain in the chest and back, slight pressure over the eyes, dizziness, and irritation at the site of infusion, and, rarely, thrombocytopenia in neonates; b) Delayed adverse reactions such as hepatomegaly, jaundice due to central lobular cholestasis, splenomegaly, thrombocytopenia, leukopenia, transient increases in liver function tests, and overloading syndrome (focal seizures, fever, leukocytosis, hepatomegaly. splenomegaly and shock). The deposition of a brown pigmentation in the reticuloendothelial system, the so-called “intravenous fat pigment,” has been reported in patients infused with Intralipid ® . The causes and significance of this phenomenon are unknown.