DECAN Tablet

lndication(s):

Acute rheumatism, rheumatoid arthritis. acute gouty arthritis, bronchial asthma, serum sickness, diffusum lupus erythematosus, nodular arthritis, allergic dermatitis, pemphigus, bursitis, myositis, fibermyositis, and inflammatory ophthalmic diseases.

Dosage and Administration:

Usual adults dose: 0.75mg, 2 to 4 times a day.

To be taken after meals and at bedtime or in the morning and at night.

The daily dose may be reduced by 0.25 -0.5mg for every 4 -5 days interval until the minimum maintenance dose is attained or all the symptoms have completely disappeared.

Dexamethasone is contraindicated in patients with systemic fungal infections and those who have shown hypersensitivity to any component of this product.

1. The prolonged therapy may result in suppression of pituitary­adrenal function and the principal complications resulting from prolonged therapy with Dexamethasone Phosphate are fluid and electrolyte disturbances, hyperglycemia and glycosuria, increased susceptibility to infections including tuberculosis, peptic ulcers, which may bleed or perforate, osteoporosis, a characteristic myopathy, behavioral disturbances, posterior subcapsular cataracts, arrest of growth, and Cushing's habitus, consisting of "moon face", "buffalo hump", enlargement of supraclavicular fat pads, "central obesity", striae, ecchymoses, acne, and hirsutism.

2. Acute adrenal insufficiency results from too rapid withdrawal of corticosteroids after prolonged therapy. Dexamethasone withdrawal syndrome, consisting of fever, myalgia, arthralgia and malaise.

1. The adverse effects of Dexamethasone are almost always due to its use in excess of normal physiological requirement. They should be treated symptomatically, where possible the dosage is reduced or the drug slowly withdrawn.

2. Dexamethasone may mask some signs of infections and new infections may appear during its use. There may be decreased resistance and inability to localise infections when Dexamethasone is used.

3. Dexamethasone should be used cautiously in patients with ocular herpes simplex. psychic derangements and gastric­duodenal ulcer.

4. The use of Dexamethasone in pregnancy, nursing mothers, or women of childbearing potential requires that the possible benefits of the drug be weighed against the potential hazards, to the mother and embryo or fetus.

5. Unless considered life-saving, systemic administration of corticosteroids is contraindicated in patients with osteoporosis, psychoses, or severe psychoneurosis, and they should be used only with great caution in the presence of congestive heart failure or hypertension. in patients with diabetes mellitus, chronic renal failure, and uremia, and in elderly person.

1. Dexamethasone Phosphate is a synthetic glucocorticoid and has a potent anti-inflammatory property. It is indicated for the treatment of endocrine disorders, rheumatic disorders, collagen diseases, dermatologic diseases, allergic states and etc.

2. Dexamethasone Phosphate can decrease or prevent tissue responses to inflammatory processes, thereby reducing development of symptoms of inflammation without affecting the underlying cause. Dexamethasone inhibits accumulation of inflammatory cells, including macrophages and leukocytes, at sites of inflammation. It also inhibits phagocytosis, lysosomal enzyme release. and synthesis and/or release of several chemical mediators of inflammation.

3. Dexamethasone is readily absorbed from the gastrointestinal tract. Its biological half-life in plasma is about 190 minutes. Binding of Dexamethasone to plasma proteins is less than most of the other corticosteroids.