Composition:
Each vial contains:
Thiopental sodium .................... 500 mg or 1 g

Therapeutic Indications
Induction of general anaesthesia.
As the sole anaesthetic agent for short-term procedures.
As a supplement to other anaesthetics.
As a hypnotic in balanced anaesthesia.
Control of refractory tonic-clonic status epilepticus.
Narcotic-assisted psychoanalysis and synthesis in psychiatry.

Dosage and Administration
THIOPENTAL SODIUM Injection is administered by I.V. route only.
Administration should be slow because onset of action is immediate.
Individual response is so varied that there can be no fixed dosage. Titrate against patient's requirement as governed by age, sex and body weight.
Test dose:
Inject a small test dose of 25-75 mg to assess tolerance or unusual sensitivity. Observe the patient's reaction for not less than 60 seconds.
General anaesthetic for short-term procedures:
Adults and Children:
2-4 ml of a 2.5% solution (50-100 mg) administered I.V. for induction and repeated as a maintenance dose.
Most patients will require not more than 500 mg otherwise recovery will be prolonged and possibly complicated.
The patient should in all cases be premedicated with atropine and if necessary with an analgesic or tranquilliser, although the latter will increase the recovery time.
If chlorpromazine or promethazine are used for premedication the amount of THIOPENTAL SODIUM required for induction should be reduced.
When used as the sole anaesthetic agent, the desired level of anaesthesia can be maintained by injection of small repeated doses as needed or by using a continuous I.V. drip in a 0.2% or 0.4% concentration.
Convulsive states following anaesthesia:
Adults:
50-125 mg (2-5 ml of a 2.5% solution) as soon as possible after the convulsion begins.
Psychiatric disorders:
For narcoanalysis and narcosynthesis, medication with an anticholinergic agent may precede administration of THIOPENTAL SODIUM. After a test dose, THIOPENTAL SODIUM is injected at a slow rate of 100 mg/min. (4 ml/min. of a 2.5% solution) with the patient counting backwards from 100. Alternatively, THIOPENTAL SODIUM Injection may be administered by rapid I.V. drip using a 0.2% concentration in 5% dextrose in water. The rate of administration should not exceed 50 ml/min.
Preparation of parenteral solutions:
Reconstitute only with sterile water for injection, sodium chloride 0.9%, or dextrose 5% in water to get solutions in the 2%-5% range.
Reconstitute with sodium chloride 0.9%, or dextrose 5% in water to get solutions of 0.2% or 0.4%.
Do not use concentrations less than 2% in sterile water for injection because they cause haemolysis.
A 2.5% solution is most commonly used for intermittent injections; although a 5% solution is sometimes used.
A 2.5% solution is advised for all elderly and high-risk patients.
Reconstitute each 500 mg of powder by adding at least 20 ml of sterile water for injection to yield a 2.5% solution (25 mg/1 ml). Add 20 ml of reconstituted solution to at least 100 ml of 0.9% sodium chloride or 5% dextrose for I.V. drip injection.
Prepare solution freshly and use promptly. If a precipitate is present, discard solution.
Admixture incompatibility:
Aqueous solutions of THIOPENTAL SODIUM are strongly alkaline; a 2.5% solution has a pH of about 10.5.
The solution is incompatible with acids, acidic salts and oxidizing agents, amikacin, chlorpromazine, ephedrine, and morphine.
Do not mix solutions of succinylcholine, tubocurarine or other drugs that have an acid pH with THIOPENTAL SODIUM solutions.