2020 Volume 40 Issue 5 Pages 497-502
Most patients undergoing surgery receive intravenous fluids to maintain circulating blood volume and electrolyte balance. Insufficient fluid administration may cause damage to major organs because of low tissue perfusion, while excess fluid administration may cause tissue edema and may delay the recovery of gastrointestinal function. Therefore, administration of an optimal amount of intravenous fluid is necessary to prevent perioperative complications and promote patient recovery. Recently, the concept of goal-directed fluid therapy, which utilizes feedback from intraoperative clinical indicators to determine the optimal amount of fluid administration for an individual patient, has become widely accepted. While dynamic variables are frequently used to predict fluid responsiveness and guide fluid therapy, fluid responsiveness alone cannot confirm adequate tissue perfusion, which is the ultimate goal of fluid therapy. Hemodynamic management based on indicators of tissue perfusion along with the dynamic variables is desirable, particularly for patients who are at high risk of perioperative complications.
