Volume kinetics of Ringer's solution in hypovolemic volunteers

The amount of Ringer's solution needed to restore normal blood volumes is thought to be three to five times the volume of blood lost. This therapy can be optimized by using a kinetic model that takes accounts for the rates of distribution and elimination of the infused fluid.

The authors infused 25 ml/kg Ringer's acetate solution into 10 male volunteers who were 23 to 33 yr old (mean, 28 yr) when they were normovolemic and after 450 ml and 900 ml blood had been withdrawn. One-volume and two-volume kinetic models were fitted to the dilution of the total venous hemoglobin and plasma albumin concentrations.

Withdrawal of blood resulted in a progressive upward shift of the dilution-time curves of both markers. The two-volume model was statistically justified in 56 of the 60 analyzed data sets. The hemoglobin changes indicated that the body fluid space expanded by the infused fluid had a mean total volume of 10.7 l(+/-0.9 SEM). The elimination rate constant (kr) decreased with the degree of hypovolemia and was 133 ml/min (22 ml/min [SEM]), 100 ml/min (39 ml/min [SEM]), and 34 ml/min (7 ml/min [SEM]), respectively (P < 0.01). Plasma albumin indicated a slightly larger body fluid space expanded by the infused fluid, but kr was less (P < 0.02). Hypovolemia reduced the systolic and diastolic blood pressures by approximately 10 mmHg (P < 0.05).

The dilution of the blood and the retention of infused Ringer's solution in the body increases in the presence of hypovolemia, which can be attributed chiefly to a reduction of the elimination rate constant.