Figure 3
Chloride load and base excess in elderly patients undergoing abdominal surgery. Chloride load in the three groups of patients - Ringer's lactate group (filled circles), isotonic saline group (filled squares), and HES 130/0.4 plus Ringer's lactate (open triangles) - was calculated. The variations in base excess for the three groups are shown graphically. It is remarkable that there is no difference between the Ringer's lactate group and the HES 130/0.4 plus Ringer's lactate group. *P < 0.05. POD, postoperative day. Adapted from Boldt and colleagues [24].