Acute
electrolyte and
acid-base imbalance is experienced by many children following kidney transplant. This is partly because doctors give very large volumes of artificial fluids to keep the new kidney working. When severe, fluid imbalance can lead to
seizures,
cerebral edema and death. In this pragmatic, open-label, randomized controlled trial, we randomly assigned (1:1) pediatric kidney transplant recipients to Plasma-Lyte-148 or standard of care perioperative intravenous fluids (predominantly 0.45%
sodium chloride and 0.9%
sodium chloride solutions). We then compared clinically significant
electrolyte and
acid-base abnormalities in the first 72 hours post-transplant. The primary outcome, acute
hyponatremia, was experienced by 53% of 68 participants in the Plasma-Lyte-148 group and 58% of 69 participants in the standard fluids group (odds ratio 0·77 (0·34 - 1·75)). Five of 16 secondary outcomes differed with
Plasma-Lyte-148:
hypernatremia was significantly more frequent (odds ratio 3·5 (1·1 - 10·8)), significantly fewer changes to fluid prescriptions were made (rate ratio 0·52 (0·40-0·67)), and significantly fewer participants experienced hyperchloremia (odds ratio 0·17 (0·07 - 0·40)),
acidosis (odds ratio 0·09 (0·04 - 0·22)) and hypomagnesemia (odds ratio 0·21 (0·08 - 0·50)). No other secondary outcomes differed between groups. Serious adverse events were reported in 9% of participants randomized to Plasma-Lyte-148 and 7% of participants randomized to standard fluids. Thus, perioperative Plasma-Lyte-148 did not change the proportion of children who experienced acute
hyponatremia compared to standard fluids. However fewer fluid prescription changes were made with Plasma-Lyte-148, while hyperchloremia and
acidosis were less common.