Sydney Ringer: water supplied by the New River Water Company

Abstract

Lactated Ringer's solution has been used for decades in the resuscitation of hypovolemia and hemorrhagic shock. Its origin relates to a serendipitous substitution of water in the London laboratory of Sydney Ringer in the 1880s. A number of controversies have related to the use of lactated Ringer's solution. Some of these have involved the potential exacerbation of lactic acidosis and the question of whether administration of colloid or crystalloid is preferable in severe hypovolemia. The use of hypertonic saline solutions in shock is an issue of current investigative interest.