The Principles of Volume Management

Fluid management is one of the crucial interventions in critically ill patients, which runs through the whole process of hemodynamic therapy, and fluid resuscitation is the key part. Either too much or too little volume can have a negative impact on patient outcome. Only adequate volume status could improve prognosis. Early fluid resuscitation should be titrated carefully for each patient, reaching the target quickly and avoiding complications. Therefore, how to maintain an appropriate volume status is challenging. Nevertheless, the rules of fluid resuscitation are still controversial: when to start, how to proceed, when to finish? Even the type of fluid selected is far from a consensus. This article tends to summarize some experience in fluid management.