Editing Blood (section)

===Intravenous administration===
Many forms of medication (from [[antibiotics]] to [[chemotherapy]]) are administered intravenously, as they are not readily or adequately absorbed by the digestive tract.

After severe acute blood loss, liquid preparations, generically known as plasma expanders, can be given intravenously, either solutions of salts (NaCl, KCl, CaCl<sub>2</sub> etc.) at physiological concentrations, or colloidal solutions, such as dextrans, [[human serum albumin]], or fresh frozen plasma. In these emergency situations, a plasma expander is a more effective life-saving procedure than a blood transfusion, because the metabolism of transfused red blood cells does not restart immediately after a transfusion.