[Hydroxyethyl starch (HAS 450/0.7) in human plasma and liver. Course of concentration and histological changes]

In 12 patients 1,000 ml hydroxyethyl starch (Mw 450,000, degree of substitution 0.7) was infused intravenously. A liver biopsy was performed in 10 patients undergoing abdominal surgery 30 minutes to 28 days after the infusion. The liver tissue was investigated by light and electron microscopy. The plasma level of hydroxyethyl starch decreased to 4.8% of the initial concentration 28 days after the infusion (Anthron method). Single intracellular vacuoles were shown by electron microscopy 30 minutes after the end of infusion in Kupffer's cells only. However, 6 to 28 days after infusion intracellular vacuoles were demonstrated in parenchymal liver cells, Kupffer's cells, interstitial histiocytes and to a lesser degree in the cells of the small bile ducts. The pathogenic importance of the portracted elimination from the plasma and the liver storage is unknown.