Therapeutic effect of bovine albumin in the experimental fat embolism syndrome.

The toxic effects of the free fatty acids (FFA) are responsible for the initiation and the clinical manifestations of the fat embolism syndrome (FES). Serum albumin binds to the FFA and by producing atoxic compounds it has a therapeutic effect on the syndrome. In this study we applied bovine albumin to 48 Sprague-Dawley rats which were previously submitted to intravenous infusions of FFA solutions (oleic, palmitic, stearic). The histopathologic lesions observed in their lungs were compared to those of 50 control animals suffering from the FES. The administration of 0.5% bovine albumin solution intravenously and 0.2% intraperitoneally, especially when it was synchronous to the FFA infusion and not metachronous, resulted in substantial and statistically significant therapeutic effects.