Increase in Heart Rate or Blood Pressure
Dobutamine hydrochloride may cause a marked increase in heart rate or blood pressure, especially systolic pressure. Approximately 10% of patients in clinical studies have had rate increases of 30 beats/minute or more, and about 7.5% have had a 50 mm Hg or greater increase in systolic pressure. Usually, reduction of dosage promptly reverses these effects. Because dobutamine hydrochloride facilitates atrioventricular conduction, patients with atrial fibrillation are at risk of developing rapid ventricular response. Patients with pre-existing hypertension appear to face an increased risk of developing an exaggerated pressor response.
Ectopic Activity
Dobutamine hydrochloride may precipitate or exacerbate ventricular ectopic activity, but it rarely has caused ventricular tachycardia.
Hypersensitivity
Reactions suggestive of hypersensitivity associated with administration of Dobutamine Injection, USP, including skin rash, fever, eosinophilia, and bronchospasm, have been reported occasionally.
Dobutamine Injection, USP contains sodium metabisulfite, a sulfite that may cause allergic-type reactions, including anaphylactic symptoms and life-threatening or less severe asthmatic episodes, in certain susceptible people. The overall prevalence of sulfite sensitivity in the general population is unknown and probably low. Sulfite sensitivity is seen more frequently in asthmatic than in nonasthmatic people.
General
During the administration of Dobutamine Injection, USP, as with any adrenergic agent, ECG and blood pressure should be continuously monitored. In addition, pulmonary wedge pressure and cardiac output should be monitored whenever possible to aid in the safe and effective infusion of dobutamine hydrochloride.
Hypovolemia should be corrected with suitable volume expanders before treatment with dobutamine hydrochloride is instituted.
No improvement may be observed in the presence of marked mechanical obstruction, such as severe valvular aortic stenosis.
Usage Following Acute Myocardial Infarction − Clinical experience with dobutamine hydrochloride following myocardial infarction has been insufficient to establish the safety of the drug for this use. There is concern that any agent that increases contractile force and heart rate may increase the size of an infarction by intensifying ischemia, but it is not known whether dobutamine hydrochloride does so.
Laboratory Tests − Dobutamine, like other β2-agonists, can produce a mild reduction in serum potassium concentration, rarely to hypokalemic levels. Accordingly, consideration should be given to monitoring serum potassium.
Drug Interactions − Animal studies indicate that dobutamine may be ineffective if the patient has recently received a β-blocking drug. In such a case, the peripheral vascular resistance may increase.
Preliminary studies indicate that the concomitant use of dobutamine and nitroprusside results in a higher cardiac output and, usually, a lower pulmonary wedge pressure than when either drug is used alone.
There was no evidence of drug interactions in clinical studies in which dobutamine was administered concurrently with other drugs, including digitalis preparations, furosemide, spironolactone, lidocaine, nitroglycerin, isosorbide dinitrate, morphine, atropine, heparin, protamine, potassium chloride, folic acid, and acetaminophen.
Carcinogenesis, Mutagenesis, Impairment of Fertility − Studies to evaluate the carcinogenic or mutagenic potential of dobutamine hydrochloride, or its potential to affect fertility, have not been conducted.
Pregnancy – Teratogenic Effects − Reproduction studies performed in rats at doses up to the normal human dose (10 mcg/kg/min for 24 h, total daily dose of 14.4 mg/kg), and in rabbits at doses up to twice the normal human dose, have revealed no evidence of harm to the fetus due to dobutamine hydrochloride. There are, however, no adequate and well-controlled studies in pregnant women. Because animal reproduction studies are not always predictive of human response, this drug should be used during pregnancy only if clearly needed.
Nursing Mothers − It is not known whether this drug is excreted in human milk. Because many drugs are excreted in human milk, caution should be exercised when dobutamine hydrochloride is administered to a nursing woman. If a mother requires dobutamine hydrochloride treatment, breastfeeding should be discontinued for the duration of treatment.
Increase in Heart Rate or Blood Pressure
Dobutamine hydrochloride may cause a marked increase in heart rate or blood pressure, especially systolic pressure. Approximately 10% of patients in clinical studies have had rate increases of 30 beats/minute or more, and about 7.5% have had a 50 mm Hg or greater increase in systolic pressure. Usually, reduction of dosage promptly reverses these effects. Because dobutamine hydrochloride facilitates atrioventricular conduction, patients with atrial fibrillation are at risk of developing rapid ventricular response. Patients with pre-existing hypertension appear to face an increased risk of developing an exaggerated pressor response.
Ectopic Activity
Dobutamine hydrochloride may precipitate or exacerbate ventricular ectopic activity, but it rarely has caused ventricular tachycardia.
Hypersensitivity
Reactions suggestive of hypersensitivity associated with administration of Dobutamine Injection, USP, including skin rash, fever, eosinophilia, and bronchospasm, have been reported occasionally.
Dobutamine Injection, USP contains sodium metabisulfite, a sulfite that may cause allergic-type reactions, including anaphylactic symptoms and life-threatening or less severe asthmatic episodes, in certain susceptible people. The overall prevalence of sulfite sensitivity in the general population is unknown and probably low. Sulfite sensitivity is seen more frequently in asthmatic than in nonasthmatic people.
General
During the administration of Dobutamine Injection, USP, as with any adrenergic agent, ECG and blood pressure should be continuously monitored. In addition, pulmonary wedge pressure and cardiac output should be monitored whenever possible to aid in the safe and effective infusion of dobutamine hydrochloride.
Hypovolemia should be corrected with suitable volume expanders before treatment with dobutamine hydrochloride is instituted.
No improvement may be observed in the presence of marked mechanical obstruction, such as severe valvular aortic stenosis.
Usage Following Acute Myocardial Infarction − Clinical experience with dobutamine hydrochloride following myocardial infarction has been insufficient to establish the safety of the drug for this use. There is concern that any agent that increases contractile force and heart rate may increase the size of an infarction by intensifying ischemia, but it is not known whether dobutamine hydrochloride does so.
Laboratory Tests − Dobutamine, like other β2-agonists, can produce a mild reduction in serum potassium concentration, rarely to hypokalemic levels. Accordingly, consideration should be given to monitoring serum potassium.
Drug Interactions − Animal studies indicate that dobutamine may be ineffective if the patient has recently received a β-blocking drug. In such a case, the peripheral vascular resistance may increase.
Preliminary studies indicate that the concomitant use of dobutamine and nitroprusside results in a higher cardiac output and, usually, a lower pulmonary wedge pressure than when either drug is used alone.
There was no evidence of drug interactions in clinical studies in which dobutamine was administered concurrently with other drugs, including digitalis preparations, furosemide, spironolactone, lidocaine, nitroglycerin, isosorbide dinitrate, morphine, atropine, heparin, protamine, potassium chloride, folic acid, and acetaminophen.
Carcinogenesis, Mutagenesis, Impairment of Fertility − Studies to evaluate the carcinogenic or mutagenic potential of dobutamine hydrochloride, or its potential to affect fertility, have not been conducted.
Pregnancy – Teratogenic Effects − Reproduction studies performed in rats at doses up to the normal human dose (10 mcg/kg/min for 24 h, total daily dose of 14.4 mg/kg), and in rabbits at doses up to twice the normal human dose, have revealed no evidence of harm to the fetus due to dobutamine hydrochloride. There are, however, no adequate and well-controlled studies in pregnant women. Because animal reproduction studies are not always predictive of human response, this drug should be used during pregnancy only if clearly needed.
Nursing Mothers − It is not known whether this drug is excreted in human milk. Because many drugs are excreted in human milk, caution should be exercised when dobutamine hydrochloride is administered to a nursing woman. If a mother requires dobutamine hydrochloride treatment, breastfeeding should be discontinued for the duration of treatment.
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