Gelatins are produced by hydrolysis of collagen followed by modification of the resulting fragments.
There are two modified gelatins available, Gelofusine® and Haemaccel®. They differ in the type of modification made to gelatin and also in their electrolyte composition:
Table 1 shows a comparison of Haemaccel 4% and Gelofusine 3.5%.
The presence of calcium in Haemaccel® can lead to clotting of blood administered through the same giving set.
Gelatins do not interfere with blood cross-matching, but have the highest anaphylactoid hypersensitivity reactions of all the colloids.
|
Colloid |
Mean molecular mass |
Na+ (mmol/L) |
Cl- |
K |
Ca2+ (mmol/L) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Haemaccel® 4% |
35 000 |
145 |
145 |
5.1 |
6.25 |
|
Gelofusine® 3.5% |
30 000 |
154 |
120 |
- |
- |
Table 1 Comparison of Haemaccel® 4% and Gelofusine® 3.5%