Cortexin for children: instructions for use

To improve brain activity, activate metabolic processes in brain tissues and eliminate various neurological pathologies, children are often prescribed nootropic drugs. One of them is the drug of the domestic pharmaceutical company Geropharm, called Cortexin. When is it prescribed for a child and how to properly treat babies with such a medication?

Release form and composition

Cortexin is presented in pharmacies in only one form - injectable. It is sold in boxes containing 10 glass vials of white or yellowish white powder (lyophilisate). It can also appear as a porous, homogeneous yellowish or white mass.

The main ingredient of such a powder is polypeptide fractions, the molecular weight of which does not exceed 10 thousand Da. Such protein molecules with a small length and mass are a water-soluble complex and are also called cortexin. Their number in one bottle can be 5 mg or 10 mg. These polypeptides are extracted from the brain of pigs or cattle (from the cortex).

Glycine is added to the medication as a stabilizer. Its dosage is 6 mg in vials with 5 mg of the active complex (the entire preparation contains 11 mg, and the volume of the vial is 3 ml) and 12 mg in the preparation with 10 mg of cortexin (there are 22 mg of powder inside, and the volume of the vial is 5 ml) ...

Operating principle

After injection, low molecular weight protein molecules of Cortexin pass through the blood-brain barrier and have the following effect on the brain:

They stimulate both nerve cells and neurotrophic factors, due to which information is better and faster transmitted through the fibers, and the balance of excitatory and inhibitory mediators is normalized.
They protect neurons from various damaging factors, for example, from hypoxia, free radicals or calcium ions. This therapeutic effect of the drug is called cerebral or neuroprotective. It makes nerve cells more resistant to any external influences, including stressful situations and taking various psychotropic drugs.
They activate metabolic processes in the brain tissues and accelerate the recovery of nerve cells, as a result of which the general tone and functions of the central nervous system are improved.
Have a positive effect on the ability to learn new material and work. This action is called nootropic. It consists in improving the functions of thinking, among which attention and memory are especially important.
Reduce seizure activity with lesions of brain tissue. Thanks to this effect, the use of Cortexin helps prevent the occurrence of seizures.
Slow down oxidative processes in brain cells, that is, they act as an antioxidant.

Indications

Cortexin in childhood is prescribed:

With traumatic brain injury or to eliminate their consequences.
With encephalitis or encephalomyelitis.
When speech is delayed.
With epilepsy.
With neuroinfections caused by viruses or bacteria.
With delayed psychomotor development.
With circulatory disorders in the brain.
With encephalopathy.
With hydrocephalic syndrome.
For memory or attention problems.
With asthenia.
With infantile cerebral palsy.

At what age is it allowed?

Cortexin can be administered to children of any age, including infants in the first year of life. Such a remedy is used even in premature babies, if there are serious indications for this, for example, with birth trauma, neuroinfection or hypoxia during childbirth.

Contraindications

The drug is not used in children with intolerance to its components. There are no other contraindications for such a medicine. However, if the baby falls ill during the course of therapy, it is imperative to consult a doctor and discuss the withdrawal of the medication. As a rule, for colds, flu and other acute respiratory viral infections, injections are not given, but the treatment is postponed to the period when the child fully recovers.

Side effects

Sometimes Cortexin treatment provokes an allergic reaction, for example, a rash or itchy skin. If the injection site turns red, rashes appear, or the child complains of pain and burning, you should show the baby to a doctor.

Instructions for use

Cortexin is administered only intramuscularly. The lyophilisate must be diluted before injection. The powder is diluted just before the injection. For this purpose, sterile water intended for injection is used, as well as sterile saline.

It is possible to dilute the medication with a 0.5% solution of novocaine, however, such a solvent is used much less often. Although it reduces the pain of the procedure, when diluted with an anesthetic, the therapeutic effect of Cortexin decreases, and the risk of allergy to an injection increases. For this reason, the use of novocaine is recommended only if the child is difficult to tolerate injections and they are very painful for him, and the small patient is not allergic to novocaine.

To dilute Cortexin, you must first draw up a solvent in a volume of 1-2 ml with a sterile syringe, then remove the foil from the lyophilisate bottle and pierce the rubber stopper. Next, the solvent should be carefully released into the bottle so that no foam forms (for this, it is advised to direct the stream of liquid onto the wall so that the solvent slowly drips onto the powder).

Having released all the water or saline solution and without removing the needle, you must gently shake the bottle until the powder is completely dissolved. As soon as the solution becomes homogeneous and transparent, it is drawn back with the same syringe, and then an intramuscular injection is performed.

It is important to remember that for one injection, the entire lyophilisate is diluted, and then the required amount of medication is collected. It is unacceptable to divide the powder into parts, and then dilute only one of them.

The medication is advised to be injected into the muscles of the shoulder or thigh. To reduce pain, the injection should be done with a thin needle and the medicine should be injected very slowly. The next injection is done, departing from the place of the previous one at least 1 cm.

Dosage

For babies weighing up to 20 kg, the dose must be calculated by weight. To do this, the number of kilograms is multiplied by 0.5, for example, if a child weighs 8 kg at 10 months, then he needs 8x0.5 = 4 mg of cortexin per day. For such a baby, they take bottles with 5 mg of the active ingredient, dilute with 2 ml of water for injection and inject 1.6 ml of the finished medicine into the crumbs (it is from this amount that the baby will receive 4 mg of the active complex). If the medication is diluted with 1 ml of saline or sterile water, then the child needs to be injected with 0.8 ml. The remainder of the drug is discarded.
For a child weighing more than 20 kg, Cortexin is prescribed 10 mg per day. One bottle with such a content of the active complex is diluted with 1 ml of water for injection or saline.
The drug is administered daily 1 time for ten days. The injection is recommended to be done in the morning, because the medication has an exciting effect. After a 10-day course of treatment, take a break for 3-6 months, after which the therapy can be repeated.
For stroke, 2 injections of 10 mg are given daily. One of them is given in the morning, and the second in the daytime, since the injection in the evening can interfere with falling asleep.
If for some reason the injection was missed, the next day you do not need to inject the drug in a double dose. In such a situation, the course is extended so that a total of 10 injections are obtained.

Overdose

For the entire period of use of the drug in children, no cases of overdose have been reported.

Drug interactions

Cortexin does not have any negative effect on other medications, therefore it can be used in conjunction with various medications. In this case, the drug should not be mixed in one syringe with any other solutions, except for permitted solvents. If multiple injections are prescribed, they should be given in separate injections.

Terms of sale and storage

Buying Cortexin in pharmacies is possible only if you have a prescription for such a medication, obtained from a pediatrician, neurologist or other specialist. The average price of 10 ampoules, each containing 10 mg of the active compound, is 1200 rubles. Separately, you should purchase a package with 1-2 ml ampoules of saline or water for injection.

It is recommended to keep a box of bottles at home at temperatures below +25 degrees in a place where the product will be hidden from sunlight and out of reach of children. The shelf life of the sealed powder vials is 3 years from the date of manufacture. The diluted medicine can be stored for no longer than 20 minutes. If more time has passed after mixing with the solvent for any reason, the syringe with the drug must be discarded, and then diluted and the lyophilisate taken from a new vial.

Reviews

There are many good reviews about the treatment of children with Cortexin. In them, mothers note that after the course of injections, the child speaks better, easily memorizes poetry, remembers new information, becomes less nervous, expands his vocabulary. In the smallest, the drug accelerates motor development. According to parents, babies after injections learn faster to roll over on their tummy, sit, get up, hold a spoon, learn to crawl, and so on.

When treating schoolchildren, mothers confirm the positive effect of Cortexin on thinking, attention and memory. In children of this age, the drug effectively helps with low learning ability, difficulties with the assimilation of material, problems with speech. Doctors also emphasize that injections help eliminate the negative effects on the brain of stress, hypoxia, trauma and other factors. However, many doctors, including Komarovsky, attribute Cortexin and other nootropics to drugs whose effectiveness has not been proven.

The drug is well tolerated by most young patients. Local reactions to injections occur very rarely and often when the powder is diluted with novocaine. In negative reviews, they complain about the high cost of the course of treatment, the severe pain of injections, and in some children, they note the absence of any positive effect on the nervous system. Also, many parents do not like that the product is released only in an injectable form, so they choose analogs in tablets.

Analogs

Instead of Cortexin, children can be prescribed other drugs with a similar therapeutic effect:

Cogitum. This medication in the form of a sweet banana solution in ampoules is in demand for IAD, asthenia, perinatal damage to the central nervous system, neuroses and other problems. He is prescribed from the age of 7.
Cerebrolysin. The action of this drug in ampoules for intravenous or intramuscular injections is provided by peptides, which are obtained from the brain of pigs. The drug is used in children with craniocerebral trauma, organic or metabolic brain diseases. Children are prescribed it at any age, if there is evidence for this.
Aminalon. These coated tablets work thanks to gamma-aminobutyric acid. They are prescribed for problems with attention, cerebral palsy, mental retardation, depression, drowsiness, motion sickness, prescribing children over a year old.

Pantogam. This syrup or tablet contains hopantenic acid and can be used at any age. The medication is indicated for mental overload, neurosis, attention disorders, stuttering, enuresis and other problems.
Gliatilin. These capsules or ampoules for injections contain choline alfosferat and are prescribed for circulatory disorders in the brain tissues, memory impairment, birth trauma to the brain, hydrocephalus, tics, developmental delay and other problems. The medication is allowed at any age.
Vinpocetine. Such a drug in injections or tablets is used for encephalopathies, strokes, autism, epilepsy and other diseases. In children, it is used only under medical supervision.
Nootropil. The basis of this medicine is piracetam. The drug is produced in tablets, solution, injections and capsules. Children are prescribed it from 1 year old with learning disabilities, brain injuries, stroke and other neurological disorders.
Glycine. Such a drug in tablets is used for stress, attention disorders, developmental delay and other problems, prescribing it to children from birth.
Phezam. The composition of such capsules includes two components at once that affect the brain - cinnarizine and piracetam. The medication is recommended for children 5 years old and older with motion sickness, tinnitus, memory loss, asthenia and other disorders of the central nervous system.