Intravenous sugar solution
Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1]
Overview
An intravenous sugar solution is a solution with a sugar (usually glucose, a.k.a. dextrose, with water as the solvent) used for intravenous therapy, where it may function both as a means of maintaining tissue hydration and a means of parenteral nutrition.
Types
Types of glucose/dextrose include:
- D5W (5% dextrose in water), which consists of 278 mmol/L dextrose
- D5NS (5% dextrose in normal saline), which, in addition, contains normal saline (0.90% w/v of NaCl).
- D5 1/2NS (5% dextrose in half amount of normal saline (0.45% w/v of NaCl).[1]
The percentage is a mass percentage, so a 5% glucose/dextrose solution contains 50 mg/ml of glucose/dextrose (Quite simply, 5% dextrose means the solution contains 5g/100ml of solution).
Glucose provides energy 4 kcal/gram, so a 5% glucose solution provides 0.2 kcal/ml. If prepared from dextrose monohydrate, which provides 3.4 kcal/gram, a 5% solution provides 0.17 kcal/ml.[2]
Indications
Administering a 5% sugar solution peri- and postoperatively usually achieves a good balance between starvation reactions and hyperglycemia caused by sympathetic activation. A 10% solution may be more appropriate when the stress response from the reaction has decreased, after approximately one day after surgery. After more than approximately 2 days, a more complete regimen of total parenteral nutrition is indicated.
In patients with hypernatremia and euvolemia, free water can be replaced using either 5% D/W or 0.45% saline.
See Also
References
- ↑ eMedicine > Hypernatremia: Treatment & Medication By Ivo Lukitsch and Trung Q Pham. Updated: Apr 19, 2010
- ↑ Calculating Parenteral Feedings D. Chen-Maynard at California State University, San Bernardino. Retrieved September 2010. HSCI 368