Higher frequency use of topical steroids provides benefit in difficult to treat cases.Diabetic macular edema may be treated with laser photocoagulation, reducing the chance of vision loss.In 2010, the US FDA approved the use of Lucentis intravitreal injections for macular edema.Iluvien, a sustained release intravitreal implant developed by Alimera Sciences, has been approved in Austria, Portugal and the U.K. for the treatment of vision impairment associated with chronic diabetic macular edema (DME) considered insufficiently responsive to available therapies. Additional EU country approvals are anticipated.In 2013 Lucentis by intravitreal injection was approved by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence in the UK for the treatment of macular edema caused by diabetes and/or retinal vein occlusion.On July 29, 2014, Eylea (aflibercept), an intravitreal injection produced by Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc., was approved to treat DME in the United States. Research
In 2005, steroids were investigated for the treatment of macular edema due to retinal blood vessel blockage such as CRVO and BRVO.A 2014 Cochrane Systematic Review studied the effectiveness of two anti-VEGF treatments, ranibizumab and pegaptanib, on patients with macular edema caused by CRVO. Participants on both treatment groups showed a reduction in macular edema symptoms over six months.Another Cochrane Review examined the effectiveness and safety of two intravitreal steroid treatments, triamcinolone acetonide and dexamethasone, for patients with from CRVO-ME.
For these procedures, the surgical team will bypass the heart with a heart-lung machine and inject potassium chloride into the heart muscle to stop the heartbeat. Side effects
Side effects can include gastrointestinal discomfort, including nausea and vomiting, diarrhea, and bleeding of the digestive tract. Overdoses cause hyperkalemia, which can lead to paresthesia, cardiac conduction blocks, fibrillation, arrhythmias, and sclerosis.Because of the risk of small-bowel lesions, the US FDA requires some potassium salts containing more than 99 mg (about 1.3 mEq) to be labeled with a warning, while recommending an adult daily intake of 4700 mg (about 63 mEq). History
Slow-K is a 1950s development where the medicine is formulated to enter the bloodstream at delayed intervals. It was first only prescribed to British military forces to balance their diets while serving in Korea. Society
Brand names
Brand names include K-Dur, Klor-Con, Micro-K, Slow-K, Sando-K, and Kaon Cl, most of which are extended release medicine by mouth. Lethal injection
Potassium chloride is used in lethal injection as the third of a three-drug combination. KCl is also sometimes used in fetal intracardiac injections in second- and third-trimester induced abortions. Jack Kevorkians thanatron machine injected a lethal dose of potassium chloride into the patient, which caused the heart to stop functioning, after a sodium thiopental-induced coma was achieved.Cardiac arrest induced by potassium has been used in political assassinations in Iran, by injection or by inserting a potassium suppository into the victims rectum. References
External links
"Potassium chloride". Drug Information Portal. U.S. National Library of Medicine.