Limited studies on the relationship between tablet shape, selleck chemical size and the splitter model and the accuracy of splitting. In this
work, divisibility of tablets with various shapes and sizes for medicines normally split was studied using a kitchen knife and four tablet splitter models. Results demonstrated deviation in tablet fragments weight changes with tablet shape, size and splitter model. The tablets-related factors (shape and size) and the splitter model are critical parameters in splitting of tablets. Splitting of tablets into halves and quarters to obtain a suitable unit dose is frequently done using a variety of methods.1 A significant deviation in weight from the theoretical value for tablet halves and quarters on splitting using scissors, hands and one tablet splitter model.2 In this work, a kitchen knife and four tablet splitter models were tested for splitting of tablets having different shapes and sizes for medicines normally split. Tablets from furosemide 40 mg (circular shape, unscored), captopril 50 mg (square shape, bisected both sides), spirolactone 100 mg (circular shape, scored), enalpril 10 mg (heart shape,
scored) and paracetamol 500 mg (caplet, scored) were first assessed for diameter/length, thickness and hardness. From each medicine, ten randomly selected tables were individually weight using a sensitive balance, split into halves and into quarters using a kitchen knife and splitter learn more models; Pillmate (P), Fortuna (F), Safe Sound (S) and Health Care (H). The weight variation for 10 intact tablets, 20 halves and 40 quarters for each medicine was calculated using United States Pharmacopoeia (USP) criteria for intact tablets. Weight loss was determined by subtracting the weight of the two tablet halves
or four quarters from the weight of intact Buspirone HCl tablet. Statistical analysis of data was performed using t-test at P value less than 0.05 as significant. The average diameter/length, thickness and hardness of tablets were (8, 10, 9.6, 8 and 17.7 mm), (2, 4, 4, 4 and 5 mm) and (7, 11, 9, 10 and 8 Kp) for furosemide, captopril, spirolactone, enalpril and paracetamol. The relative standard deviation (RSD) values of weight were between 1.0–1.6, 8.4–15.2 and 17. 2–26.7% for intact tablets, halves and quarters respectively after splitting using a kitchen knife and tablet splitter models (P, F, S and H). Tablet fragments deviated in weight by more than 15% from the theoretical values were 10, 20, 37, 22 and 4% for halves and 35, 48, 53, 58 and 35% for quarters. The associated tablet weight loss ranges were 0.5–1, 1–7, 0–5, 0–3 and 0–2% after halving and 2–3, 2–9, 1–12, 1–5 and 1–4% after splitting into quarters.