Propylene glycol: increased incidence of seizures in low birth weight infants

Propylene glycol is a solvent commonly used in drug preparation. Although generally considered nontoxic, there are reports of toxic effects in animals and humans. Noted toxic effects have included seizures, sudden collapse, cardiac arrythmia and asystole, hepatic damage, renal damage, hemolysis, and serum hyperosmolality with a marked osmolar gap. We have previously reported serum hyperosmolality in small premature infants receiving a large dose of propylene glycol during IV nutrition. The major source of propylene glycol for these infants was an IV multivitamin solution, MVI-12 (Armour Pharmaceutical Co). Other drugs used in the newborn nursery were also found to contain significant amounts of propylene glycol (Table 1).