Intensive care medicine
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Intensive care medicine · Jan 1998
Randomized Controlled Trial Clinical Trial Retracted PublicationVolume therapy in the critically ill: is there a difference?
There are still several concerns about the extensive and prolonged use of hydroxyethylstarch solution (HES) in critically ill patients. The effects of volume replacement with HES over 5 days on hemodynamics, laboratory data, and organ function were compared with volume therapy using human albumin (HA). ⋯ Volume therapy with 10% HES for 5 days in the ICU patient showed no disadvantages compared with an infusion regimen using 20% albumin. Volume replacement using HES may even be associated with improved hemodynamics. HES appears to be a valuable and significantly cheaper alternative to albumin--even for prolonged volume therapy in the critically ill patient.