Intramuscular Injection Sites
Posted by Erez Medical on
Site selection
Four muscle sites are recommended for IM administration (Fig 1, Table 1):
- Vastus lateralis;
- Rectus femoris
- Deltoid;
- Ventrogluteal.
Traditionally the dorsogluteal (DG) muscle was used for IM injections but this muscle is in close proximity to a major blood vessel and nerves, with sciatic nerve injury a recognised complication (Small, 2004). In addition, drug absorption from the DG muscle may be slower than other sites and this can lead to a build-up of drugs in the tissues and risk of overdose (Malkin, 2008)