All medium starches are not the same: Influence of the degree of hydroxyethyl substitution of hydroxyethyl starch on plasma volume, hemorrheologic conditions, and coagulation

Abstract

It is the intravascular and not the initial (in vitro) molecular weight that determines the properties of HES. Especially after repeated administration, a high degree of hydroxyethyl substitution leads to an accumulation of macromolecules that affect hemorrheologic measures and the coagulation system just as adversely as high-molecular-weight starch does. Depending on the degree of substitution, medium-molecular-weight starches can have widely differing properties.