Colloids

Re: Colloids

Claire Fisher — Thu, 24 Nov 2011 20:22:11 GMT

[quote user="Christopher Saul"]

I assume we're all talking about artificial colloids; remember blood products e.g. FFP are colloids.

It's true some artificial colloids are not really recommended; the gelatins are pretty much useless as they stay in circulation so briefly. As Andy correctly points out though, there are occasions ( generally low colloid osmotic pressure) where the artificial colloids are useful - in particular the hydroxyethyl starches. Our starch of choice is venofundin, this is similar to pentastarch but has a slightly smaller molecular weight, we also get this via dunlops I believe.

[/quote]

Yes artifical colloids, we keep a bag of FFP in the freezer as well.

In this case it was for a borderline hypoalbuminaemic dog with a limited budget so couldn't use the FFP.

Re: Colloids

Christopher Saul — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 23:14:17 GMT

I assume we're all talking about artificial colloids; remember blood products e.g. FFP are colloids.

Re: Colloids

Claire Fisher — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 21:05:07 GMT

[quote user="Andrew Kent"]

The indications for colloids are few but they still play an important role in the management of certain conditions.

There are alternative brands of pentastarch to Voluven. I believe we now have something called 'plasma volume ready bag' which is the same as Voluven and we get it through Dunlops.

Andy

[/quote]

Thanks, I will have a look for that. We don't use them very often, probably used 3 x 500ml bags in 18 months.

Re: Colloids

Andrew Kent — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 20:53:51 GMT

The indications for colloids are few but they still play an important role in the management of certain conditions.

There are alternative brands of pentastarch to Voluven. I believe we now have something called 'plasma volume ready bag' which is the same as Voluven and we get it through Dunlops.

Andy

Re: Colloids

Robin Grimmer — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 20:44:09 GMT

I thought generally now they are not recommended? They don't have much advantage over crystalloids.

If I want rapid volume expansion I have used hypertonic saline.