Fluid resuscitation in severe sepsis and septic shock: systematic description of fluids used in randomized trials.

INTRODUCTION:  Fluid therapy is one of the cornerstones of initial management of sepsis, but the choice of fluids used for resuscitation is controversial.  OBJECTIVES:  While trying to determine the effects of alternative fluids used in sepsis resuscitation randomized controlled trials (RCTs), we found that the precise description of those fluids was frequently not available. This report presents the result of our efforts to provide the …