Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Shortage of injectable indigo carmine

The American Society of Health-System Pharmacists reports a shortage of injectable indigo carmine. Have you ever had your bladder examined? Part of the examination might have been an intravenous injection of indigo carmine after inserting an instrument called a cystoscope up your urethra. Your doctor locates the openings into the bladder from each of your kidneys when the dye starts entering the bladder after a couple of minutes. This is a good thing in itself because it means that your kidneys are functioning and your ureters are carrying the urine they produce to the bladder. The doctor may go a step further and insert an instrument up one or both ureters in order to find out more about their condition and that of your kidneys.

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