A REVIEW OF THE EFFICACY AND SAFETY OF 7.5-PERCENT NACL 6-PERCENT DEXTRAN-70 IN EXPERIMENTAL-ANIMALS AND IN HUMANS

Recent years have seen a renewed interest in the use of hypertonic-hyp eroncotic solutions as plasma volume expanders for the treatment of he morrhagic hypotension. In particular, a number of studies in experimen tal animals have addressed the efficacy and safety of small-volume inf usions of 7.5% NaCl/6% dextran 70 (HSD). Employing models of fixed vol ume or fixed pressure hemorrhage, HSD has improved survival and revers ed many of the hemodynamic, hormonal, and metabolic abnormalities asso ciated with hemorrhagic shock. In the few human field trials completed to date, HSD has been shown to be potentially beneficial in hypotensi ve trauma patients who require surgery or have concomitant head injury .Extensive toxicologic evaluations and lack of reports of adverse effe cts in the human trials indicate that, at the proposed therapeutic dos e of 4 mL/kg, HSD should present little risk.