Individuals who are physically dependent on benzodiazepines may experience benzodiazepine withdrawal symptoms, including seizure, upon rapid administration of flumazenil. It is not recommended for routine use in those with a decreased level of consciousness.In terms of drug enforcement initiatives, diversion control programs and required post-marketing surveillance of adverse events, orders for flumazenil may trigger a prescription audit to the search for benzodiazepine misuse and for clinically significant adverse reactions related to their use. PET radioligand
Radiolabeled with the radioactive isotope carbon-11, flumazenil may be used as a radioligand in neuroimaging with positron emission tomography to visualize the distribution of GABAA receptors in the human brain. Treatment for benzodiazepine dependence & tolerance
Epileptic patients who have become tolerant to the anti-seizure effects of the benzodiazepine clonazepam became seizure-free for several days after treatment with 1.5 mg of flumazenil. Similarly, patients who were dependent on high doses of benzodiazepines (median dosage 333 mg diazepam-equivalent) were able to be stabilised on a low dose of clonazepam after 7–8 days of treatment with flumazenil.Flumazenil has been tested against placebo in benzo-dependent subjects. Results showed that typical benzodiazepine withdrawal effects were reversed with few to no symptoms. Flumazenil was also shown to produce significantly fewer withdrawal symptoms than saline in a randomized, placebo-controlled study with benzodiazepine-dependent subjects. Additionally, relapse rates were much lower during subsequent follow-up.In vitro studies of tissue cultured cell lines have shown that chronic treatment with flumazenil enhanced the benzodiazepine binding site where such receptors have become more numerous and uncoupling/down-regulation of GABAA has been reversed.
It also exhibits weak partial agonism of GABAA receptor complexes that contain α6-type monomers; the clinical relevance of this is unknown.Flumazenil does not antagonize all of the central nervous system effects of drugs affecting GABA-ergic neurons by means other than the benzodiazepine receptor (including ethanol, barbiturates, and most anesthetics) and does not reverse the effects of opioids. It will however antagonize the action of non-benzodiazepine z-drugs, such as zolpidem and zopiclone, because they act via the benzodiazepine site of the GABA receptor - it has been used to successfully treat z-drug overdose. Pharmacodynamics
Intravenous flumazenil has been shown to antagonize sedation, impairment of recall, psychomotor impairment and ventilatory depression produced by benzodiazepines in healthy human volunteers. The duration and degree of reversal of sedative benzodiazepine effects are related to the dose and plasma concentrations of flumazenil. Availability
Flumazenil is sold under a wide variety of brand names worldwide like Anexate, Lanexat, Mazicon, Romazicon. In India it is manufactured by Roche Bangladesh Pharmaceuticals and USAN Pharmaceuticals. See also
Benzodiazepine overdose
Benzodiazepine
Bretazenil
Imidazenil
Ro15-4513
GABAA receptor negative allosteric modulators

References
Other
Romazicon product information, Roche USA

External links
 Media related to Flumazenil at Wikimedia Commons
Flumazenil drug label/data at Daily Med from U.S. National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health.