Colloid - in Intravenous Therapy

In Intravenous Therapy

Colloid solutions used in intravenous therapy belong to a major group of volume expanders, and can be used for intravenous fluid replacement. Colloids preserve a high colloid osmotic pressure in the blood, and therefore, they should theoretically preferentially increase the intravascular volume, whereas other types of volume expanders called crystalloids also increases the interstitial volume and intracellular volume. However, there is still controversy to the actual difference in efficacy by this difference. Another difference is that crystalloids generally are much cheaper than colloids. Recently, however, it has been determined that the use of colloids was bolstered by faked research studies.