Does obesity prevent the needle from reaching muscle in intramuscular injections?
AIM: This paper is a report of a study to measure subcutaneous tissue thickness at the dorsogluteal and ventrogluteal sites and to determine optimal needle length for dorsogluteal and ventrogluteal intramuscular injections in adults with a body mass index of more than 24.9 kg/m2. BACKGROUND: Problems can arise if drugs designed to be absorbed from muscle are only delivered into subcutaneous tissue. Increasing obesity in all developed and many developing countries makes this an increasing concern. METHOD: Ultrasound measurements were made of the subcutaneous tissue of overweight, obese and extremely obese people at the dorsogluteal and ventrogluteal sites with the probe held at a 90 degrees angle to the plane of the injection site. Subcutaneous tissue thickness was measured in 119 adults whose body mass index was >or=25 kg/m2. The data were collected in 2005-2006. RESULTS: Mean subcutaneous tissue thickness at the dorsogluteal site was 34.5 mm for overweight adults, 40.2 mm for obese ad
