Syringe driver

A syringe pump for laboratory use. World Precision Instruments (WPI) SP120PZ.

Asyringe driver,also known as asyringe pump,is a smallinfusion pump,used to graduallyadministersmall amounts of fluid (with or without medication) to apatientor for use inchemicalandbiomedicalresearch.Some syringe drivers can both infuse and withdraw solutions.

Uses

Syringe drivers can be used forelectrospinning,electrospraying, microdialysis, microfluidics, dispensing/dilution, tissue perfusion, and fluid circulation.

Intravenous therapy

This patient of anintensive care unitof a German hospital (2015) could not eat due to a prior surgery of theabdominal regionwhich had led, via achain reactionof negative events, to a severesepsisand an emergency surgery. He receivedantibiotics,parenteral nutritionandpain killers,amongst other substances, via automated injection employing circa 8 syringe drivers (2 staples in background on the right).

Syringe drivers are useful for deliveringintravenous (IV) therapiesover 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 reducesmedical errors.It is useful for patients who cannot take medicinesorally(such as those with difficultyswallowing), and for medications too harmful to be taken orally.

Palliative care

Syringe drivers are particularly useful inpalliative care,to continuously administeranalgesics(painkillers),antiemetics(medication to suppressnauseaandvomiting) 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 administeredsubcutaneously,the area of administration is practically limitless, althoughedemamay 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. Inenzyme kineticsstudies, syringe drivers can be used to observe rapid kinetics as part of astopped flowapparatus.They are also sometimes used as laboratorymedia dispensers.Some reactions exploiting thehigh dilution principleuse syringe pumps.