BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Although has been available for clinical administration for over 50 years, the use of human albumin keep being a controversial and hotly debated and it is theme of many papers in medical journals. The opinions and justifications for the use of albumin are huge and only more recently were published betters papers leaded to appraisal more significant outcomes as the impact in the mortality of the treat patients. The objectives of this paper are: to check the albumin indications, to compare them with Agência Nacional de Vigilância Sanitária (ANVISA) guideline of 2004, recent scientific researches and to estimate the total cost of the product. METHODS: Analysis of the justifications of human albumin use in 206 requests, of 2005, identified in Hospital Universitário Antonio Pedro (HUAP) data base. RESULTS: A great amount of albumin was used without scientific justifications, generating financial expenditures of thousand of reais, but whose impact on the health of the patients is impossible to be evaluated in this work. CONCLUSIONS: Although the great discussion and many papers about this theme, the albumin is still use in an intense and unrestricted way in this teaching hospital.
Agência Nacional de Vigilância Sanitária (ANVISA); albumin; cost; teaching hospital
