More on albumin

doi:10.1136/bmj.318.7192.1214b

From trainee to consultant, BMJ Group offers doctors around the world tailored information, special events, learning resources and recruitment services at every step along their career path.

... by doctors, for doctors, for patients
We are open for entries!

Online learning

BMJ Learning

High-quality CME / CPD for doctors and other healthcare professionals. BMJ Learning features hundreds of accredited, peer-reviewed learning modules in text, video, and audio formats. Find out more

Courses and Qualifications

BMJ Masterclasses

BMJ Masterclasses, led by experts, help clinicians to use the latest evidence and recent guidelines in practice and meet their CPD/CME requirements. Find out more

Exam Preparation

The leading provider of online exam preparation, helping over 167,000 healthcare professionals to pass their exams. Find out more

onExamination

Search all BMJ comment articles:

From

Limit by

Access to the full text of this article requires a subscription or payment. Please log in or subscribe below.

Use of human albumin in UK fell substantially when systematic review was published

Ian Roberts, Director (Ian.Roberts@ich.ucl.ac.uk),
Philip Edwards, Data manager,
Brian McLelland, Director

Child Health Monitoring Unit, Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, Institute of Child Health, London WC1N 1EH
Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service, Headquarters Unit, Edinburgh EH17 7QT
Department of Burns and Plastic Surgery, Royal Victoria Hospital, Belfast BT12 6BA

EDITOR—After publication of the Cochrane Injuries Group Albumin Reviewers' systematic review of albumin administration in critically ill patients1 the Committee on Safety of Medicines convened an expert working party to consider the implications for the use of albumin in the United Kingdom. To date the committee has not made any announcement. The results of the review were widely reported in the medical and lay press,2 and this may have influenced the use of albumin.

We requested data on the monthly issues of albumin solutions to regional blood centres and hospitals between 1993 and 1999 from the Bio Products Laboratory (which serves England and Wales) and the Protein Fractionation Centre of the Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service (which serves Scotland and Northern Ireland). Issues were expressed in kg of albumin, reflecting the total albumin content of the various dose units. A …