Properties and Medical Solutions

Isosmotic solution Hyperosmotic solution Hyposmotic solution 

Intravenous solutions—those that are administered directly into a patient s veins— must have osmotic pressures equal to those of body fluids. These solutions are called isosmotic (or isotonic). When a patient is given an IV in a hospital, the majority of the fluid is usually an isosmotic saline solution—a solution containing 0.9 g NaCl per 100 mL of solution. In medicine and in other health-related fields, solution concentrations are often reported in units that indicate the mass of the solute per given volume of solution. Also common is percent mass to volume— which is the mass of the solute in grams divided by the volume of the solution in milliUters times 100%. In these units, the concentration of an isotonic saline solution is 0.9% mass/volume. 

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