---
title: Surgery Patients Recovered Just as Well on Far Less IV Fluid, Bronx Anesthesiologists Report
description: During the 2024 IV fluid shortage, a Bronx hospital cut surgical fluids 75 percent and outcomes held up. What it means, and why it is not a reason to ask for less.
author: Darie Nani (Editor-in-Chief)
updated: 2026-09-15T17:19:19.390Z
canonical: https://richhealthmagazine.com/article/iv-fluid-shortage-surgery-less-fluid-study
categories: Longevity & Science
content_type: News
region: United States
publication: Rich Health Magazine
schema_type: Article
---

Surgery patients given far less intravenous fluid during elective operations recovered about as well as patients who got the usual amounts, according to a study published September 15 in JAMA Network Open. The finding came out of an accidental experiment. In late 2024 a nationwide shortage left hospitals rationing one of the most routine supplies in the operating room, and a team at Montefiore Einstein in the Bronx treated the crisis as a chance to measure what happens when surgery patients get less.

IV fluids during surgery are so routine that most patients never think about them, yet there is no agreed-upon amount for how much a person should receive during an elective procedure. The Montefiore Einstein researchers, led by anesthesiologist Dr. Matthias Eikermann, put that everyday assumption to an unplanned test.

## A Hurricane Shut the Plant That Makes Most of America's IV Fluid

The IV fluid shortage of 2024 began on September 29, when Hurricane Helene flooded Baxter's plant in North Cove, North Carolina, the source of roughly 60 percent of the IV fluids used in the United States. About 86 percent of health care providers reported shortages and cut back where they could. The FDA declared the shortage resolved in August 2025, after production restarted.

At Montefiore Einstein the team responded with a 12-step plan: smaller fluid bags, fewer bags kept in the operating room, oral hydration in place of an IV drip where a patient could manage it, and staff education. Across nearly 27,000 elective-surgery patients, the team cut the fluid given during operations by 75 percent, then compared those patients with about 12,000 people who had surgery before the change.

The reduced-fluid patients did not fare worse, the researchers report, and on several measures they did better. The team recorded lower rates of urinary catheter insertion, fewer urinary tract infections, and fewer readmissions within 30 days. The approach also saved money. "Our study demonstrates how a health system can respond rapidly to a national supply crisis in an innovative fashion while maintaining patient safety," Eikermann said, adding that the team looks forward to "further research that may help to inform best practices in intraoperative fluid usage across the country."

## Less Fluid Is Not Automatically Safer

This was a single hospital's observational study, a before-and-after comparison rather than a randomized trial that assigns patients to more or less fluid at random. A study of that kind can point the field in a direction, but it cannot rewrite the standard of care by itself, and the researchers say more work is needed.

Giving everyone less fluid carries its own risk. In the RELIEF trial, a randomized study of about 3,000 patients published in the New England Journal of Medicine in 2018, a deliberately restrictive fluid regimen led to more acute kidney injury, 8.6 percent of patients versus 5 percent, and more complications than a more generous approach. Results like that pushed most current guidance toward [goal-directed fluid management](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6628482/), meaning fluid tailored to the individual patient and monitored throughout surgery, rather than a blanket cut for everyone.

More on Montefiore Einstein is at [montefiore.org](https://www.montefiore.org).

## FAQ

**Q: Why do patients get IV fluids during surgery?**
Anesthesia and surgery shift the body's fluid balance, and patients cannot drink during an operation. IV fluids replace losses and help keep fluid and electrolyte levels steady while a person is under. The open question is not whether to give any, but how much.

**Q: Is drinking water the same as getting IV fluids?**
Not exactly. Oral hydration and IV hydration both add fluid, and part of the Montefiore Einstein plan was to have patients drink where they could safely manage it instead of using a drip. But during an operation a patient cannot drink, and IV fluid also delivers balanced electrolytes directly into the bloodstream, which plain water does not.

**Q: Does this mean I should ask for less IV fluid during my surgery?**
No. The current standard is fluid tailored to you and monitored during surgery, not a fixed amount, so how much you get is a judgment your surgical and anesthesia team make based on your health and the operation. This study is a reason for the field to keep researching, not a reason to change what you request.