Category Archives: New Clinical Trials

Fresenius Kabi: It’s Time to Pull the Plug on Voluven (hydroxyethyl starch 130/0.4)

Voluven (hydroxyethyl starch 130/0.4) was heralded to the hospital community as a cheaper alternative to albumin, but safer than previous hydroxyethyl starch (HES) products that were shown to cause bleeding and renal failure.

Although Voluven is likely “safer” than older HES products, it still is NOT safer than traditional volume repletion with normal saline or albumin.  It was a good run, Voluven, but it’s time to pull the plug.

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WARFASA Trial – Aspirin for VTE Prophylaxis

Mufasa from the Lion King

The WARFASA trial, recently published in the NEJM, examined the role of aspirin after patients with VTE’s had completed 6-18 months of warfarin therapy.  Given the safety of the treatment and the impressive reduction in VTE recurrence, it’s very likely that the results of the  WARFASA trial will find their way into the next CHEST guideline updates. Continue reading