1.   A number of companies are working on blood volume expanders to maintain blood volume during surgeries.

2.   A year ago, six Finnish cross-country skiers, four men and two women, were banned from competition for two years for using a blood plasma volume expander.

3.   Doctors currently use everything from simple saline solution to high-end volume expanders such as Hespan from DuPont.

4.   The biggest loser was Berkeley-based BioTime, which makes blood volume expanders and blood replacement solutions for low-temperature surgery.

5.   The product, known as a blood volume plasma expander, helps replace blood lost during major surgery.

6.   He said the six skiers were given the plasma volume expander, hydroxyethyl starch, although it had been banned last year by the IOC.

7.   HES is a plasma volume expander and is taken intravenously.

8.   Isometsa tested positive for hydroxyethyl starch, a plasma volume expander that is taken intravenously and normally used in hospitals to treat blood loss.