The use of scintigraphy to demonstrate the rapid esophageal transit of theoval film-coated placebo risedronate tablet compared to a round uncoated placebo tablet when administered with minimal volumes of water
Ac. Perkins et al., The use of scintigraphy to demonstrate the rapid esophageal transit of theoval film-coated placebo risedronate tablet compared to a round uncoated placebo tablet when administered with minimal volumes of water, INT J PHARM, 222(2), 2001, pp. 295-303
As our population ages, and the consumption of pharmaceutical products rise
s, the incidence of solid oral dosage forms lodging in the esophagus is lik
ely to increase and may be formulation dependent. The aim of this study was
to compare the esophageal transit of the commercial film-coated risedronat
e tablet and a round uncoated tablet resembling the alendronate 10 mg table
t which is reported to cause esophagitis if ingested with little to no wate
r. Water volumes of 30 ml and 50 ml were selected as these volumes can dete
ct formulations prone to esophageal adhesion and a habits and practice stud
y showed that these volumes are within the range preferred by women (7-385
ml). A total of 28 healthy postmenopausal women completed the four-way cros
sover scintigraphy study. For both volumes of water, the film-coated placeb
o risedronate tablet had a statistically significant faster esophageal tran
sit time than the uncoated placebo tablet (P = 0.002 for 30 ml water and P
< 0.001 for 50 ml water). Among those taking the round, flat, uncoated tabl
et, five subjects had esophageal stasis (transit > 20 s) and in three subje
cts the tablet remained in the esophagus at the end of the 10-min imaging p
eriod. No stasis was observed for the oval film-coated placebo risedronate
tablet. This study demonstrates that tablet size, shape and coating are pha
rmaceutical parameters which can be controlled to minimize esophageal conta
ct of a dosage form with esophageal tissue. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V.
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