Meet The Author
July 2025
Corrin Boyd BSc BVMS(Hons) MVetClinStud GradDipEd PhD MANZCVS DACVECC
I am a registered veterinary specialist in emergency medicine and critical care. I work in clinical service in The Animal Hospital at Murdoch University.
Outside of vet medicine, I also love music - I play a few instruments and present on a local community radio station.
Boyd CJ, Sharp CR, Claus MA, Raisis AL, Hosgood G, Smart L
The Study Background
This was a component of my PhD investigating adverse effects of synthetic colloid fluids. It follows from an earlier experimental paper where we used urine biomarkers to investigate AKI with colloids. Interestingly, though most of the human research suggesting harm is with hydroxyethyl starch colloids, our previous study found evidence of harm with gelatine, but not starch. We considered this may be a limitation of the model we used, so we followed up with this clinical study to see if we could detect any evidence of renal harm with hydroxyethyl starch.
What is the primary knowledge gap your study aims to address?
Is hydroxyethyl starch 130/0.4 (HES) associated with greater risk of AKI, compared to crystalloids, in critically ill dogs.
The Study Design
This was a prospective, randomised clinical trial in dogs treated by an ECC service that were deemed to require a fluid bolus. Dogs were randomised to HES or crystalloid, and the primary outcome measure was a panel of urine biomarkers of AKI.
What are the main study results?
There was no difference in urine AKI biomarkers between the study groups.
Were there any unexpected results or challenges during your research?
This study highlighted the logistical challenges in performing a randomised trial on IV fluids, a drug where the dose and administration characteristics vary between patients. Avoiding protocol violations and maintaining blinding took some work.
Takeaways from this study
I think the jury is still out on whether HES can cause AKI in dogs. However, based on this and other studies, it seems like there is unlikely to be a large effect, and it certainly seems to have less effect than gelatine. Thus, I still consider sparing use of HES reasonable in some cases, and preferable to gelatine.
What future directions would you like to explore based on this study?
I think the only way to really answer this question is with large multicentre trials with patient-centred outcomes. Perhaps we will get there one day.
For the real nerds, my PhD thesis is published if anybody would like to deep dive into the broader project:
