Interaction Between Vitamin A and Plastic Intravenous Fluid Bags

To the Editor.— Since the introduction of the flexible plastic intravenous fluid bags (Viaflex, marketed by Travenol Laboratories, Inc., Morton Grove, Ill) in 1971, their use in this country has received wide acceptance. There are some advantages of these bags over the traditional glass counterparts such as being lighter in weight, easier to store, and relatively unbreakable. However, their potential clinical problems such as sorption of drugs and leaching of chemicals from the bags do not appear to have been critically evaluated and reported in the literature. In our preliminary study on the sorption of some commonly used vitamins onto the bags, we were surprised to find that vitamin A (in the form of retinol acetate), at concentrations within the clinically used range, was strongly sorbed onto the bags. For example, 78% of 200 ml aqueous solution (with an initial concentration of 3μg per ml solubilized in 0.01% polysorbate 80)