Administration of Injectable Vitamin K Orally

Vitamin K, or phytonadione, is available in both injectable and oral formulations. Oral vitamin K is available as 5-mg tablets, but the key drawbacks for using vitamin K tablets consist of availability of only 1 dose strength and recent tripling of the product's cost over a 2-year period. An interest exists for utilization of injectable vitamin K via oral route. A literature search was performed on April 26, 2017, to identify any studies describing the use of injectable vitamin K for oral administration. The search involved PubMed and Embase and utilized various combinations of keywords , , , , , and . The results were limited to studies that discussed oral administration of injectable vitamin K. The efficacy of the injectable preparation of vitamin K administered orally was explored in 6 studies and one cost-savings project. Based on the available literature, the administration of injectable vitamin K via oral route is effective and safe. Injectable vitamin K for oral administration can be prepared as an undiluted solution or as a compounded solution. These 2 formulations have different beyond-use dates depending on ingredients used. Information on efficacy and stability of injectable vitamin K formulations prepared for oral administration provides an additional option for health care systems when vitamin K tablets are unavailable or cost-prohibitive to use.