Report by

Minesh Khashu, Lead Neonatologist, Poole Hospital NHS Trust, Poole, Dorset, UK; mineshkhashu@gmail.com

Velur Balasubramaniam, Neonatal Unit, Leicester Royal Infirmary, Leicester LE1 5WW, UK

A neonate born at 26 weeks and weighing 930 g underwent laparotomy on day 21 of life for perforation secondary to necrotising enterocolitis (NEC). He required fluid resuscitation during the procedure and Gelofusine was given rather than normal saline or blood products. We reviewed the evidence for the use of Gelofusine for volume replacement in neonates.

Structured clinical question

In neonates requiring intravascular volume replacement/resuscitation [patient] is use of Gelofusine [intervention] efficacious and safe [outcome]?

Search strategy and outcome

Search terms: “Gelofusine”, “Gelatin” and “Synthetic Colloids”.

Search literature: PubMed and Medline 1966–2005, EMBASE 1974–2005, Cinahl 1982–2005 using Dialog Data Star, Google Scholar, Proquest journals.

Search limit: To human studies and English literature.

Neonatal and paediatric studies

See table 1.

Adult studies

See supplemental table 1 available at http://adc.bmj.com/supplemental.

Commentary

Gelofuscine is a synthetic colloid, which, in recent years, has been increasingly used for volume replacement. The advantages of Gelofuscine are that it is less expensive than other synthetic colloids, is readily …