A syringe driver, also known as a syringe pump, is a small

infusion pump An infusion pump Intravenous infusion, infuses fluids, medication or nutrients into a patient, patient's circulatory system. It is generally used intravenously, although Subcutaneous injection, subcutaneous, artery, arterial and epidural infusio ...

, used to gradually

administer Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities ...

small amounts of fluid (with or without medication) to a

patient A patient is any recipient of health care services that are performed by healthcare professionals. The patient is most often ill or injured and in need of treatment by a physician, nurse, optometrist, dentist, veterinarian, or other health c ...

or for use in

chemical A chemical substance is a form of matter having constant chemical composition and characteristic properties. Some references add that chemical substance cannot be separated into its constituent elements by physical separation methods, i.e., wi ...

and

biomedical Biomedicine (also referred to as Western medicine, mainstream medicine or conventional medicine)

research Research is "creativity, creative and systematic work undertaken to increase the stock of knowledge". It involves the collection, organization and analysis of evidence to increase understanding of a topic, characterized by a particular att ...

. Some syringe drivers can both infuse and withdraw solutions.

Uses

Syringe drivers can be used for

electrospinning Electrospinning is a fiber production method that uses electric force to draw charged threads of polymer solutions or polymer melts up to fiber diameters in the order of some hundred nanometers. Electrospinning shares characteristics of both elec ...

, electrospraying, microdialysis, microfluidics, dispensing/dilution, tissue perfusion, and fluid circulation.

Intravenous therapy

Patient lying in hospital bed in intensive care unit in Germany in 2015

Syringe drivers are useful for delivering intravenous (IV) therapies over several minutes. They infuse solutions at a constant rate. In the case of a medication which should be slowly pushed in over the course of several minutes, this device saves staff time and reduces

medical errors A medical error is a preventable adverse effect of care ("iatrogenesis"), whether or not it is evident or harmful to the patient. This might include an inaccurate or incomplete diagnosis or treatment of a disease, injury, syndrome, behavior, i ...

. It is useful for patients who cannot take medicines orally (such as those with difficulty

swallowing Swallowing, sometimes called deglutition in scientific contexts, is the process in the human or animal body that allows for a substance to pass from the mouth, to the pharynx, and into the esophagus, while shutting the epiglottis. Swallowing i ...

), and for medications too harmful to be taken orally.

Palliative care

Syringe drivers are particularly useful in

palliative care Palliative care (derived from the Latin root , or 'to cloak') is an interdisciplinary medical caregiving approach aimed at optimizing quality of life and mitigating suffering among people with serious, complex, and often terminal illnesses. Wit ...

, to continuously administer

analgesic An analgesic drug, also called simply an analgesic (American English), analgaesic (British English), pain reliever, or painkiller, is any member of the group of drugs used to achieve relief from pain (that is, analgesia or pain management). It ...

s (painkillers),

antiemetic An antiemetic is a drug that is effective against vomiting and nausea. Antiemetics are typically used to treat motion sickness and the side effects of opioid analgesics, general anaesthetics, and chemotherapy directed against cancer. They may ...

s (medication to suppress

nausea Nausea is a diffuse sensation of unease and discomfort, sometimes perceived as an urge to vomit. While not painful, it can be a debilitating symptom if prolonged and has been described as placing discomfort on the chest, abdomen, or back of the ...

and

vomiting Vomiting (also known as emesis and throwing up) is the involuntary, forceful expulsion of the contents of one's stomach through the mouth and sometimes the Human nose, nose. Vomiting can be the result of ailments like Food-poisoning, foo ...

) and other drugs. This prevents periods during which medication levels in the blood are too high or too low, and avoids the use of multiple tablets. As medication is administered

subcutaneously The subcutaneous tissue (), also called the hypodermis, hypoderm (), subcutis, superficial fascia, is the lowermost layer of the integumentary system in vertebrates. The types of cells found in the layer are fibroblasts, adipose cells, and macro ...

, the area of administration is practically limitless, although

edema Edema, also spelled oedema, and also known as fluid retention, dropsy, hydropsy and swelling, is the build-up of fluid in the body's Tissue (biology), tissue. Most commonly, the legs or arms are affected. Symptoms may include skin which feels t ...

may interfere with the action of some drugs.

Research

Syringe pumps are useful in microfluidic applications, such as microreactor design and testing, and also in chemistry for slow incorporation of a fixed volume of fluid into a solution. In

enzyme kinetics Enzyme kinetics is the study of the rates of enzyme-catalysed chemical reactions. In enzyme kinetics, the reaction rate is measured and the effects of varying the conditions of the reaction are investigated. Studying an enzyme's kinetics in th ...

studies, syringe drivers can be used to observe rapid kinetics as part of a

stopped flow Stopped-flow is an experimental technique for studying chemical reactions with a half time of the order of 1 ms, introduced by Britton Chance and extended by Quentin Gibson (Other techniques, such as the temperature-jump method, are available for m ...

apparatus. They are also sometimes used as laboratory

media dispenser A media dispenser or a culture media dispenser is a device for repeatedly delivering small fixed volumes (typically between 1 ml and 50 ml) of liquid such as a laboratory growth medium like molten agar or caustic or volatile solvents li ...

References

{{Commonscat, Syringe drivers Palliative care Medical pumps Laboratory equipment