# Syringe pumps and subcutaneous syringe drivers

Source: https://onco.cc/technologies/syringe-drivers/  
OnCo record `syringe-drivers` (Technology). Data CC BY-NC 4.0, attribute "Data from OnCo (onco.cc)"; commercial use needs a licence.

## TL;DR

A small pump that pushes the plunger of a syringe slowly over a day, used in palliative care to give medicines for pain, sickness and agitation under the skin when someone can no longer swallow.

## Summary

Syringe pumps are cleared under the general infusion pump code FRN. Examples in the 510(k) database include B. Braun's Perfusor Space syringe infusion pump system (K172831, 12 June 2018) and Baxter's Novum IQ syringe pump (K242390, 5 September 2024). In palliative care a portable syringe driver delivers a 24-hour continuous subcutaneous infusion; the hospital pumps named here are usually used intravenously. Which portable models a hospice uses was not found in a regulator list, so none is named.

## Fields

- Kind: Technology
- Status: standard-of-care
- Last checked: 2026-11-04
- Also known as: Syringe driver; Syringe pump; Continuous subcutaneous infusion; Perfusor Space; Novum IQ syringe pump
- Tags: devices-gaps-2026-11
- Principle: A motor-driven lead screw advances the syringe plunger at a programmed rate; occlusion and end-of-syringe alarms stop the infusion when flow is blocked or the syringe empties.
- Since: 2018
- Strengths: Steady medicine levels without repeated injections; Works through a fine needle under the skin at home
- Limitations: Site reactions under the skin; Drug compatibility limits what can be mixed in one syringe

## Sources

- FDA 510(k) K172831: Perfusor Space syringe infusion pump system (12 June 2018): https://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/cdrh/cfdocs/cfpmn/pmn.cfm?ID=K172831
- FDA 510(k) K242390: Novum IQ syringe pump (5 September 2024): https://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/cdrh/cfdocs/cfpmn/pmn.cfm?ID=K242390

## Connected records

- fronts: [Devices & Physical Therapies](https://onco.cc/fronts/devices/), [Supportive Care & Survivorship](https://onco.cc/fronts/supportive-care/)
- technologies: [Early integrated palliative care](https://onco.cc/technologies/palliative-care/), [Infusion pumps, ports, and ambulatory chemotherapy devices](https://onco.cc/technologies/infusion-devices-vascular-access/), [Patient-controlled analgesia pumps](https://onco.cc/technologies/pca-pumps/), [Smart infusion pumps with drug libraries (Novum IQ, Plum, Infusomat Space, Agilia, Ivenix)](https://onco.cc/technologies/smart-infusion-pumps/)
- companies: [B. Braun](https://onco.cc/companies/b-braun/), [Baxter International](https://onco.cc/companies/baxter/)

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