Post-Paracentesis Albumin
Computes the albumin replacement owed after a large-volume paracentesis.
Open the calculator → Runs in your browser. Data leaves only if you deliberately send a problem report from the interactive tool.
Example
- Ascitic fluid removed, liters
- 8 L
- Albumin concentration stocked, for the bottle count
- 25 percent (12.5 g per 50 mL bottle)
Result: 8 liters removed calls for 48 to 64 g of albumin
The tool opens with these values already filled in. Replace them with your own.
What the result means
- Above 5 liters
- 6 to 8 g of albumin per liter removed, counted across the whole volume.
- At or below 5 liters
- Albumin is not routinely required for the volume alone.
- What decides it
- The volume removed, not the serum albumin. Post-paracentesis circulatory dysfunction follows the volume shift, so a normal albumin does not excuse replacement.
- The arithmetic
- Per liter across the whole volume, not per liter above the five-liter line. Counting only the excess is the error the rule invites.
- What it is not
- Nutritional support, or a plasma expander of convenience. The same product given for a low albumin alone does not have this evidence behind it.
- The other reason to tap
- Ascitic fluid should go for a cell count and culture whether or not the paracentesis is therapeutic.
What you enter
- Ascitic fluid removed, liters
- Albumin concentration stocked, for the bottle count
How this is calculated
Runyon BA; AASLD. Introduction to the revised AASLD Practice Guideline management of adult patients with ascites due to cirrhosis 2012. Hepatology. 2013;57(4):1651-1653. EASL Clinical Practice Guidelines for the management of patients with decompensated cirrhosis. J Hepatol. 2018;69(2):406-460. Read the source ↗
A reference and educational tool. Not medical, legal, or financial advice, and not a substitute for clinician judgment.