Conditions: Postoperative Complications
Keywords: IV fluid recovery goal directed fluid replacement improved patient recovery
Allocation: RANDOMIZED | Intervention model: PARALLEL
Enrollment: 1102
Healthy volunteers: no

Brief summary:
A trial in which patients having open abdominal surgery are randomized to receive either crystalloids or colloids intraoperatively, guided by esophageal Doppler. The investigators test the primary hypothesis that goal-directed colloid administration during elective abdominal surgery decreases a composite of postoperative complications within 30 days of surgery.

Detailed description:
Patients will be given 5-7 ml/kg of crystalloid (lactated Ringer's) in the immediate preoperative period, which will be followed by 4 ml/kg/h crystalloid for maintenance normalized to ideal body weight \[Men: Ideal Body Weight (in kilograms) = 52 kg + 1.9 kg for every 2.5 cm over 150 cm; Women: Ideal Body Weight (in kilograms) = 49 kg + 1.7 kg for every 2.5 cm over 150 cm\].

They will then be randomly assigned to additional volume replacement, guided by esophageal Doppler, to either lactated Ringer's solution of Voluven starch.

Arms:
arm 1: Lactated Ringers solution will be used for fluid replacement. arm 2: Low-molecular weight colloid HES 130/0.4 (Voluven) will be used for fluid replacement

Interventions: intervention 1: Crystalloid intervention 2: Colloid
Intervention descriptions: intervention 1: For goal directed volume management we use corrected aortic flow time (FTc) and stroke volume derived from esophageal Doppler as in previous studies. In case of hypovolemia, detected by esophageal Doppler monitoring (CardioQ, Deltex Medical Group PLC, Chichester, UK) according to a previously published algorithm, an additional fluid bolus of 250 ml of LR will be given over a period of 5 minutes. intervention 2: For goal directed volume management we use corrected aortic flow time (FTc) and stroke volume derived from esophageal Doppler as in previous studies. In case of hypovolemia, detected by esophageal Doppler monitoring (CardioQ, Deltex Medical Group PLC, Chichester, UK) according to a previously published algorithm, an additional fluid bolus of 250 ml of Hydroxyethylstarch 6% 130/0.4 (Voluven®Fresenius-Kabi, Bad Homburg, Germany) will be given over a period of 5 minutes.

Protocol document: