Cefotax Caution For Usage

Direction for Reconstitution: For Intermittent IV Injection: For direct intermittent IV administration, 10 mL of sterile water for injection should be added to a vial containing 500 mg and 1g of cefotaxime to provide a solution containing approximately 50 mg and 95 mg of cefotaxime per mL, respectively. A solution of 1 g of cefotaxime per 14 mL of sterile water for injection is isotonic. The appropriate dose may then be injected directly into a vein over a 3 to 5 minutes period or slowly into the tubing of a freely flowing compatible IV solution. Cefotaxime should not be injected IV over less than 3 minutes since rapid (over less than 1 minute) injection was consistently associated with potentially life-threatening arrhythmias during post marketing surveillance.
Prepared solution must be used immediately.
Discard any unused portion after reconstitution.
Intermittent or Continuous IV infusion: For intermittent or continuous IV infusion, 50 or 100 mL of 0.9% sodium chloride injection or 5% dextrose injection should be added to an infusion bottle labeled as containing 1 or 2 g of cefotaxime or, alternatively, reconstituted solutions of cefotaxime may be further diluted with 50 mL to 1 L of a compatible IV solution. Intermittent IV infusions of Cefotaxime are generally infused over 20-30 minutes; solutions should preferably be infused via butterfly or scalp vein-type needles. Other IV solutions flowing through a common administration tubing or site should be discontinued while cefotaxime is being infused unless the solutions are known to be compatible and the flow-rate is adequately controlled.
IM Injection: IM injections of cefotaxime are prepared by adding 2 mL and 3 mL of sterile water for injection to a vial labeled as containing 500 mg and 1 g of the drug. Resultant solutions contain approximately 230 mg and 300 mg of cefotaxime per mL, respectively. IM injections should be made deeply into a large muscle mass such as the upper outer quadrant of the gluteus maximus; aspiration should be performed to avoid inadvertent injection into a blood vessel.
Prepared solution must be used immediately.
Discard any unused portion after reconstitution.