Monday, August 15, 2011

What would happen if you hung an IV with deionized, distilled or purified water for injection?

Rather than providing a normal isotonic solution, the water would be a hypotonic solution. This means that its solute content would be less than physiological levels. This would cause the blood to be more hypotonic as well. In the extreme, this would cause hemolysis, or the bursting of red blood cells, due to osmosis.

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