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What is a post-injection infiltrate?
Compacted tissue resulting from the accumulation of cellular elements that are not inherent in it, lymph and blood, is called an infiltrate. In acute inflammation, the infiltrate occurs through rapidly multiplying tissue cells, the appearance of large numbers of leukocytes, lymphocytes, as well as the appearance of blood plasma and lymph that have sweated out of the blood vessels. The tissue in the infiltrate area acquires an increased volume, changes color, becomes painful and dense.
Chronic infections cause an infiltrate that develops at the site where the pathogen has invaded. Reproduction of cells occurs due to the cells of the local tissue of the connective type. Surgical operations create an artificial infiltrate that occurs during anesthesia at the time of tissue impregnation with various anesthetics. Inflammation of a local nature, developing in the area where the intramuscular injection was made, is called post-injection infiltrate. As a rule, it is observed in the gluteal region.
Reasons for the development of post-injection infiltrate
The state of the post-injection infiltrate is called an iatrogenic pathology. The reason for the inflammatory process can be violated sanitation standards and non-compliance with the rules by which injections should be performed. A poorly treated injection site, an infection that accidentally got on the needle, an accumulation of bacteria in the air of the chamber in an increased amount and other factors that significantly increase the likelihood of infection.
In cases where the occurrence of a post-injection infiltrate occurs without any apparent reason, the patient’s immunity should be analyzed as a possible cause of inflammation. The infiltrate occurs without the participation of infection – it is an inflammation of the antiseptic form, it is called “bumps”, which resolve on their own. The gluteal region often suffers from post-injection infiltrate, it is not always possible to prevent its occurrence, which is why doctors prefer intravenous administration of drugs, if this is acceptable.
Symptoms of infiltration of the gluteal region
The buttocks area is the place where post-injection infiltrate most often occurs and this is understandable, since injection treatment prescribed by a large course is usually intramuscular. The developed fiber of the subcutaneous adipose tissue of the buttocks is conducive to the reproduction of pathological microorganisms that have fallen into it. An infiltrate is a pronounced local reaction of an inflammatory type, which develops due to an infection or drug entering the muscle. If this condition does not have complications, then it can go away on its own.
The infiltrate is the first manifestation of an incorrectly made injection. Its symptoms are: tissue thickening, inflammatory process, in which there is a slight temperature, pain on palpation, redness. This stage proceeds without purulent formations and has a certain mechanism. Conditioning (infection) allows white blood cells to pass through the capillary walls. Leukocytes attract fluid, and the vessels themselves expand, which gives the infiltrate the opportunity to turn red.
The rapid course of infection and inflammation in the area of post-injection infiltrate causes destruction of muscle tissues, as well as massive destruction of neutrophils, followed by the formation of pus and detritus of the cell type. Thus, an abscess is formed, represented by a painful softening, which is necessarily drained (opened) by the surgeon.
Treatment of infiltrate of the gluteal region
Often, a bruise, bump, or abscess appears at the site where the injection was made. The reasons for their appearance are very different. A bruise or hematoma is a subcutaneous hemorrhage that occurs at the site of damage to the vessels. It does not cause harm to health and does not require special treatment. An infiltrate or lump, which is caused by an unabsorbed drug (passes away in two weeks) or an infection (lasts from two weeks or more), is treated with conservative procedures.
In the treatment of infiltrate, anti-inflammatory therapy and physiotherapeutic methods are combined. Local applications are prescribed with the use of antiseptics, electrophoresis, UHF. Large infiltrates are treated with antibiotics. All therapy is aimed at resolving the inflammatory process, so as not to prevent the occurrence of an abscess, which has a purulent filling, pain and is treated surgically.