Albumin versus colloids in colon surgery patients: preliminary results

In colon surgery for malignancy, tissue oedema as a result of increased capillary permeability – due both to operational stress response and the perioperative fluid therapy – may contribute not only to the systemic consequences, but also to anastomotic dehiscence with questionable end results for the patient. The use of albumin is considered the gold standard for prevention of this complication, being at least theoretically combined with hypoalbuminaemia; however, in recent years its use has become controversial. On the other hand, after the acknowledgement of the pharmacokinetic advantages of synthetic colloids, there has been an ongoing shift towards their use as perioperative fluid therapy in major elective surgery, too. We aimed to investigate the effect of colloids as a postoperative regimen against routinely given human albumin in patients subjected to colectomy for cancer. Thirty-day morbidity, including anastomotic leakage, abdominal wound infection and dehiscence, as well as organ-specific and systemic infections, sepsis and septic shock, were assessed.