PRACTICE PATTERNS OF FRENCH ANESTHETISTS CONCERNING ALBUMIN ADMINISTRATION IN SURGICAL PATIENTS

The establishment of guidelines has to take into account the current p ractice patterns, For the preparation of the consensus conference orga nized by the French Society of Anaesthesia and intensive care (SFAR) o n the prescription of albumin, an interview with a questionnaire was u ndertaken in order to assess the practice patterns of anaesthetics dur ing the perioperative period. A group of 498 anaesthetists were interv iewed during a congress. Two out of three prescribe albumin. in case o f haemorrhage, the decision to administer albumin depends on the limit s for using other colloids (for 65% of the responders), the amount of blood loss (46%) and albuminaemia (for only 26%). In other cases, albu min is mainly administered in the burn patient and for recurring ascit e; albuminaemia is a decision criterion for one anaesthetist out of tw o. About 25% of them use a 20% concentration, another 25% of them a 4% concentration and the remaining 50% use,both concentrations. Adverse- effects have been seen in less than 5% of the responders. These data h ave been presented at the consensus conference and can also be used fo r the assessment of the impact of the guidelines after their publicati on.