The hypodermic syringe performance based on the ISO 7886-1:2017: A narrative review

Abstract

A syringe is used to inject fluid or medicine into the patient's soft tissue. The main components of the syringe were the needle, barrel, and plunger. The use of syringes in the medical world is relatively high, and especially since the COVID-19 pandemic, the use of hypodermic syringes increased sharply due to vaccination. The syringe used must be effective and of good quality, so the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) has published test procedures and minimum specifications for hypodermic syringes. The performance of the syringe can be observed from the dead space, force piston operation, water and air leakage, and fitting position of the plunger in the barrel. This review shows that most researchers use the weighing method to measure the dead space, although some use other methods. The researchers found that most of the products met the minimum specifications of the ISO, and that the dimensions and shape of the syringe affected the dead space. Researchers have not examined other performance measures recommended by the ISO. Researchers have focused more on force injection than force piston operation, leakage after injection or back spray than air and water leakage, and reduction the friction of the plunger without considering the fitting position of the plunger in the barrel.

Understanding the Relationship between Vaccine Supply Dead Space and Wasted COVID-19 Vaccine Doses

“…The syringes adhered to the standards delineated by ISO 7886-1 9 , 13 . Similar to previous studies, the dead space varied based on the supplier or the combination of syringes and needles, leading to disparate rates of waste 2 , 4 , 6 , 10 , 13 .…”

“…The syringes adhered to the standards delineated by ISO 7886-1 9 , 13 . Similar to previous studies, the dead space varied based on the supplier or the combination of syringes and needles, leading to disparate rates of waste 2 , 4 , 6 , 10 , 13 . None of the potential combinations yielded a dead space less than or equal to 0.021 mL, thereby precluding the extraction of seven doses from each Pfizer vaccine vial.…”

“…The inclusion of a retention plug that penetrates the barrel augments the expulsion of the vaccine content, thereby effectively diminishing the dead space. The incorporation of this modified retention plug primarily distinguishes a low-deadspace (LDS) syringe from a high-dead-space (HDS) syringe, as demonstrated in Figure 1B [13][14][15] .…”