The sublingual administration of opioid analgesics has been a mainstay in the pain management of homebound dying hospice patients who are no longer able to swallow. It is also a potentially useful route of administration in other situations in which the oral route is not available and other routes are impractical or inappropriate. Potential advantages of the sublingual route include rapid analg...

BACKGROUND The pharmacokinetic parameters of four different routes of administration of a single dose of 400 microg of misoprostol were studied. METHODS A total of 40 women undergoing termination of pregnancy by suction evacuation was randomized by computer model to receive 400 microg of misoprostol by one of four routes: (i) sublingual (ii) oral (iii) vaginal and (iv) vaginal with addition o...

OBJECTIVES Oral tacrolimus administration is the common route of drug delivery. Recent studies suggest sublingual administration of tacrolimus as an alternative route may produce comparable drug trough levels with similar or even lower doses than the oral route, especially in lung transplant recipients; however, most of this research does not encompass intraindividual variations compared betwee...

Evidence exists regarding the potential role of exogenous nucleotides as regulators of the immune function in physically active humans, yet the potential use of nucleotides has been hindered by their low bioavailability after oral administration. We conducted a double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomized trial to assess the effect of sublingual nucleotides (50 mg/day) on salivary and serum imm...

Background and objective: Enterally administered low-dose ketamine is being used increasingly to treat pain states. However, suitable oral or sublingual formulations are not available. The objective of the study was to develop a lozenge formulation of ketamine for use in patients with neuropathic pain, and to investigate its storage stability and bioavailability after oral or sublingual adminis...

Breakthrough cancer pain (BTCP) is defined as a transient exacerbation of pain that arises in patients with otherwise controlled persistent pain. BTCP typically has a rapid onset and relatively short duration, but it causes a significant amount of physical and psychological distress for patients. Several rapid-onset fentanyl formulations have been introduced in the USA to replace traditional or...

Sublingual immunization, where the vaccine is placed directly under the tongue and absorbed through the sublingual mucosa, has the advantages of ease of delivery without the complication of oral administration or the safety concerns of intranasal vaccines. Sublingual vaccine delivery has been shown to induce development of humoral and cell mediated immunity in both the systemic and mucosal comp...

The aim of the present work was to prepare and evaluate sublingual fast dissolving films containing metoprolol tartrate-loaded niosomes. Niosomes were utilized to allow for prolonged release of the drug, whereas the films were used to increase the drug's bioavailability via the sublingual route. Niosomes were prepared using span 60 and cholesterol at different drug to surfactant ratios. The nio...

Inappropriate percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty of the anterior descending artery was avoided in a 52-year-old woman when the intracoronary administration of glyceryl trinitrate immediately before the angioplasty disclosed the organic component of the supposedly fixed, critical (80%) stenosis to be less than 50% of the lumen diameter. The spastic component of the stenosis had not b...

An adverse reaction to the acute administration of sublingual nifedipine is reported. Subsequent reversal was by intravenous administration of calcium chloride.