Mawasiliano (Correspondence/Correspondance

We would like to share with you and the scientific community our concern about some anecdotal practices in some emergency rooms. Intravenous solutions are used daily for different emer- gency conditions. Depending on the indications, these solutions can be either cooled before administration, such as in post-cardiac arrest [1], or warmed and given as treatment to patients suffering from hypothermia, shock or any other condition necessitating replacement of fluids warmer than room temperature [2,3]. Most of the manufacturers recommend keeping the solutions at or below 25 degrees, but there is no specification on the label as to how low this can be and no mention of warming. Cooling, warming and storage at certain temperatures may compromise the neutral- ity of the packing plastic and affect the stability of the infusion solutions (pH, sterility, osmolality)