Diazepam (Valium) for Neonatal Narcotic Withdrawal: A Question of Safety
1 McGill University-Montreal Children's Hospital, Research Institute, Department of Newborn Medicine, Montreal Children's Hospital, 2300 Tupper Street, Montreal 108, Quebec, Canada
While we do not dispute the efficacy of diazepam (Valium) in the management of the neonatal narcotic withdrawal syndrome, we cannot agree with the statement made by the authors regarding the safety of the injectable preparation of diazepam. Like caffeine sodium benzoate, the injectable preparation of diazepam is capable of displacing bilirubin from its albumin-binding site, a property which in the case of sulfisoxazole, has resulted in the occurrence of kernicterus at low serum levels of bilirubin. This property lies not with the therapeutically active diazepam component, but with the buffer preservative which contains sodium benzoate.
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Committee on Drugs Neonatal Drug Withdrawal. Pediatrics, June 1, 1998; 101(6): 1079 - 1079. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
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