[Hyperpigmentation induced by busulfan: a case with ultrastructure examination].
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Antineoplastic Agents, Alkylating↗
Biomedical subjects
G Decaux
Publications and source records attributed to G Decaux.
Treating the syndrome of inappropriate ADH secretion with isotonic saline.
It has been widely accepted that there is little use for saline treatment in the syndrome of inappropriate secretion of ADH (SIADH). However, having observed that most SIADH patients increased their plasma sodium (PNa) after 2 l isotonic saline over 24 h, we investigated whether urine osmolality or the sum of urinary sodium and potassium (UNa + K) predicted this response, in 17 consecutive patients with chronic SIADH. The initial measure of urinary sodium plus potassium (UNa + K t0) was weakly correlated to the change in PNa (DPNa) after infusion (r = -0.51; p < 0.05), while initial urine osmolality (UOSM t0) was a much better predictor (y = -0.024x + 12.90; r = -0.81; p < 0.001). The lack of predictive value for UNa + K t0 was probably because urine electrolyte concentrations were not maximal for the corresponding initial UOSM. This reflects differences in salt intake between the patients. The theoretical maximal value for UNa + K t0 (th max UNa + K t0) for a given USOM t0, was as good a predictor as UOSM t0 (th max UNa + K vs. DPNa: r = -0.81; p < 0.001). A theoretical model describing the effect of 2 l isotonic saline infusion on DPNa as a function of UNa + K, produced values comparable to those observed in our patients. Only 6/17 patients, those with UOSM > 530 mOsm/kg, had their hyponatraemia aggravated by 2 l isotonic saline. Many SIADH patients have lower UOSM; in most such patients, 2 l of isotonic saline will improve PNa.
Electrolytes↗
The treatment of severe hyponatremia.
Severe hyponatremia may be chronic (days) or acute (hours), symptomatic or asymptomatic. Severe chronic symptomatic hyponatremia (serum sodium concentration < 110 to 115 mM/liter) occurs most commonly in the syndrome of inappropriate antidiuretic hormone secretion (SIADH). The treatment of this hyponatremia is a challenge to practicing physicians, in part because an overly rapid correction of hyponatremia may cause brain damage. The latter sometimes takes the form of central pontine myelinolysis (CPM). On the basis of available clinical and experimental literature, the rate of correction of this symptomatic hyponatremia should be no more than 0.5 mM per liter per hour, and the initial treatment should be halted once a mildly hyponatremic range of the serum sodium concentration has been reached (approximately 125 to 130 mM/liter). In contrast, severe chronic asymptomatic hyponatremia may be treated sufficiently by a fluid restriction. On the other hand, severe symptomatic acute hyponatremia should be treated promptly and rapidly, using hypertonic saline, to initially reach a mildly hyponatremic level.
Adolescent↗
Restoration of the uricosuric effect of probenecid after triglycylvasopressine administration in a gouty patient.
A 35-year-old patient with severe gout and mild renal insufficiency presented very low urinary urate excretion. Volume expansion induced by fludrocortisone combined or not with a uricosuric drug (Benzbromarone) was unable to significantly increase his urate excretion. A combined Probenecid (PB) and Pyrazinamide (PZA) test was performed. These drugs being considered to affect renal tubular reabsorption or secretion. No significant modification of uric acid fractional excretion (FE.uric acid) was observed after PB and PZA. When the same test was performed after the administration of Triglycyl-lysine vasopressine (TGLV), a potent V1 receptor stimulator, we observed a three fold increase in FE.uric acid after PB intake (from 6 to 18%) followed by a decrease after PZA (from 18 to 5.6%). When TGLV was administered alone their was no significant modification of uric acid fractional excretion. We propose that TGLV decrease proximal tubular urate reabsorption that could only be detected when postsecretory reabsorption is blocked by an uricosuric drug.
Absorption↗
Hyperuricemia as a clue for central diabetes insipidus (lack of V1 effect) in the differential diagnosis of polydipsia.
PURPOSE: In the differential diagnosis of patients with polyuria-polydipsia one must distinguish usually between primary polydipsia (PP) and central diabetes insipidus (CDI). The first situation is a state of volume expansion and the second of volume contraction. We evaluate whether serum uric acid determination could help to differentiate between the two conditions. PATIENTS AND METHODS: We analyzed the score of 13 consecutive patients with CDI, 7 patients with PP, and 7 patients with nephrogenic diabetes insipidus (NDI). Serum uric acid concentration was available during normonatremia without treatment with 1-desamino-8-D-arginine vasopressin (dDAVP), during mild dehydration and during treatment with dDAVP. In 8 of these patients plasma renin activity (PRA), urate, urea and creatinine clearances were also available. These data were also obtained in the patients with NDI. In 1 patient with CDI, we studied the effect on urate clearance of dDAVP, which stimulates exclusively the V2 receptors, and of triglycyl-lysine-vasopressin (TGLV), a potent V1-receptor agonist. RESULTS: Normonatremic polydypsic patients with CDI presented an increase in uric acid concentration (7.1 +/- 2.2 mg/dL), whereas in the PP group the value was decreased (3 +/- 0.75 mg/dL; P <0.001). All the normonatremic PP presented a serum uric acid concentration lower than 5 mg/dL, whereas all the normonatremic CDI patients, exept 1, presented a value higher than 5 mg/dL. In both groups blood urea concentration was decreased as a consequence of high renal clearances. The hyperuricemia of CDI was related to low uric acid clearances. Patients with hypernatremia and NDI presented a lower increase in serum uric acid concentration than those with similar levels of hypernatremia and CDI (NDI: 5.7 +/- 0.8 mg/dL and CDI: 7.9 +/- 2.3 mg/dL; P <0.05) and the NDI patients presented an urate clearance corrected for creatinine clearance which was significantly higher than in CDI (9% +/- 3% and 4% +/- 1.1%; P <0.01). When the patients with CDI were treated with dDAVP and normalyzed their PRA (0.9 +/- 0.4 ng/mL/h) we observed still mild hyperuricemia compared to controls (5.5 +/- 1.4 mg/dL and 4.3 +/- 0.9 mg/dL; P <0.01) and a low fractional excretion of filtered uric acid (6.5% +/- 1.7% compared to 8.2% +/- 2% in controls; P <0.05). Acute administration of dDAVP, stimulating the V2 receptors, in one patient with CDI, had no effect on urate clerance, while TGLV, which stimulates the V1 receptor, increased urate clearance. CONCLUSION: The presence of an serum uric acid concentration higher than 5 mg/dL in polyuric polydipsic patients is highly suggestive of CDI. Even when these patients are treated with dDAVP many of them remain hyperuricemic, and this seems to be the consequence of a lack of V1 receptor stimulation.
Adult↗
Lack of major hypoxia and significant brain damage in rats despite dramatic hyponatremic encephalopathy.
Brain myelinolysis could complicate the excessive correction of chronic hyponatremia. Recently it was suggested that hypoxia rather than correction of hyponatremia would be responsible for myelinolysis. We analyzed the incidence and the severity of potentially associated hypoxia and its consequences on survival and on the development of brain damage in rats in which major hyponatremic encephalopathy had developed after either pure acute hyponatremia (serum sodium concentration: -40 mEq/L/3 hr, group I, n = 8) or acute hyponatremia (serum sodium concentration: -30 mEq/L/3 hr, group II, n = 12) superimposed on chronic hyponatremia of 3 days' duration (serum sodium concentration: 113 mEq/L). Our study revealed the following: (1) Despite dramatic hyponatremic encephalopathy (convulsions, coma), hypoxia (PO2 < 70 mm Hg) was present, but the PO2 was not decreased below 40 mm Hg. All of these rats died rapidly if they remained hyponatremic. (2) In the animals rescued by NaCl, the incidence of brain myelinolysis was low (10%), whatever the duration (pure acute or chronic plus acute) of the hyponatremia and despite the combination of hypoxia with major hyponatremic encephalopathy. (3) When acute hyponatremia is superimposed on a chronic preexisting hyponatremic state, the acute component of serum sodium concentration decrease could be rapidly corrected (serum sodium concentration: +35 mEq/L/21 hr) without fear of permanent brain damage. Our results suggest that even in the presence of dramatic hyponatremic encephalopathy and associated hypoxia, neuropathologic sequelae are uncommon. Brain lesions related to post-anoxic encephalopathy probably develop only after respiratory arrest occurs.
Animals↗
In human patients, vascular water retention during DDAVP-related hyponatremia occurs mainly in the plasma volume and not in the erythrocyte.
DDAVP-related hyponatremia induces a blood volume expansion, but the analysis of fluid distribution in the vascular compartment has given controversial results in previous animal and human studies. In 5 healthy males, hyponatremia was induced by DDAVP and a free water intake during 3 days. Serum sodium concentration decreased from 138 +/- 0.8 mEq/L to 123 +/- 2.7 mEq/L on day 3. The plasma volume measured by dilution of marked albumin rose from 3033 +/- 230 ml to 3320 +/- 295 ml (p < 0.01). The mean corpuscular volume measured by microhematocrit increased slightly from 91.5 +/- 3.8 pl to 92.6 +/- 3.7 pl (p < 0.02). The red blood cell volume calculated with hematocrit and plasma volume did not change significantly (2565 ml to 2567 ml; not significant). In the present work, we demonstrated that in males the expansion of the plasma compartment almost completely amounted for the water retention in the intravascular volume. The erythrocyte volume increased only slightly, a finding that is consistent with an almost perfect adaptation of the erythrocyte cells to the hypoosmolality.
Administration, Intranasal↗
Brain myelinolysis following hypernatremia in rats.
Brain myelinolysis could develop after excessive correction (delta SNa > 20-25 mEq/1/24 hour [h]) of chronic hyponatremia; however, this neurological event is not recognized as a complication of hypernatremia when arising from a normonatremic baseline. Previous animal studies were unable to reproduce these brain lesions in hypernatremia after acute increase of serum sodium to moderately hypernatremic levels. We hypothesize that to produce brain dehydration and myelinolysis from normonatremic baseline requires a more important osmotic gradient than when starting from hyponatremic state. Rapid and sustained hypernatremia (at least > 6 to 12 h) was induced in male rats by i.p. administration of NaCl 2 M (3 injections at 6 h intervals). The NaCl doses were determined to define two groups of hypernatremic rats (moderate and severe hypernatremia) for further analysis of the neurological outcome. In group 1 (moderate hypernatremia, n = 26) 8 rats died early (< 12 h) after the beginning of the NaCl administration without specific neurologic manifestations. All the surviving rats fared well and were asymptomatic at time of death (day 8). They were submitted for at least 6 to 12 h to a serum sodium gradient of 28 +/- 6 mEq/l. Brain analysis was normal in all of them without brain demyelinating lesions. In group 2 (n = 51), 24 rats also died rapidly (< 12 h). The surviving rats developed severe neurologic symptoms as typically encountered in hyponatremic rats with myelinolysis. The majority of them died before day 8. The hypernatremic gradient in this group was significantly higher than rats in group 1 that completely recovered (mean delta SNa: 39 +/- 8 mEq/l, p < 0.001). In the 7 surviving rats (mean delta SNa: 33 +/- 3 mEq/l) brain analysis demonstrated severe demyelinating lesions similar to the histologic changes observed in hyponatremia-related myelinolysis. We demonstrated for the first time that high and sustained levels of hypernatremia could induce brain myelinolysis and that the osmotic gradient necessary to produce brain lesions is higher for normonatremic than for hyponatremic rats.
Animals↗
Reinduction of hyponatremia improves survival in rats with myelinolysis-related neurologic symptoms.
Brain myelinolysis occurs after excessive correction (delta SNa > 20 mEq/1/24 hours) of chronic hyponatremia. However, we showed recently that the mechanisms leading to brain myelinolysis remain reversible. Indeed, reinduction of the hyponatremia by water administration despite 12 hours of sustained excessive correction could prevent the development of demyelination in rats still asymptomatic at that time. Whether this therapeutic maneuver could be also beneficial to rats with preexisting myelinolysis-related neurologic symptoms is unknown. Therefore we evaluated here the effect of reinduction of the hyponatremia on the survival and on brain damage in rats presenting obvious neurologic symptoms after excessive correction of hyponatremia. After 3 days of severe hyponatremia induced by 2.5 D-glucose in water and continuous infusion of AVP, rats were submitted to a large correction (delta SNa approximately 30 mEq/l) by 2 i.p. injections of hypertonic saline given over 24 hours. In group I (n = 15) the rats developing neurologic symptoms during the first 24 hours of correction received one i.p. injection of distilled water which rapidly decreased the natremia to a final correction gradient <20 mEq/l/24 hour. In group II (n = 13, controls) the symptomatic rats were left permanently overcorrected. In group I, after water administration, the neurological manifestations were generally attenuated or disappeared. Seven of the 15 rats (47%) in this group survived up to day 10 with a mean survival time of 7.5 +/- 2 days, an outcome clearly improved as compared to group II (controls): only 1 of the 13 rats (7%, p < 0.03) was still alive on day 10 and the mean survival time was 3.3 +/- 2 days (p < 0.001) in this group II. The duration of the symptoms also influences the prognosis. In group I, in 9 rats the water administration was performed 4 hours after symptoms onset. These rats had a better outcome than the 6 rats with more sustained (8-10 hours) neurologic symptoms before water loading. Brain analysis in the 7 surviving rats of group I demonstrated demyelinating lesions in only 2 of them, suggesting the reversibility of the process even when neurologic manifestation developed. In conclusion, after exposure to an excessive correction of chronic hyponatremia, even when rats have developed myelinolysis-related neurologic symptoms, hypotonic fluids administration could improve survival and could prevent the subsequent development of brain myelinolysis.
Animals↗
Evidence in hyponatremia related to inappropriate secretion of ADH that V1 receptor stimulation contributes to the increase in renal uric acid clearance.
In hyponatremia related to syndrome of inappropriate antidiuretic hormone (SIADH), hypouricemia is explained primarily by the high uric acid clearance rate that results from the decrease in tubular uric acid reabsorption. This modification of tubular handling of uric acid is considered to be induced by the increase in the "effective vascular volume". This study was designed to determine if V1-receptor stimulation participates in the development of a high uric acid clearance rate as in SIADH, in which the antidiuretic hormone acts on V1 and V2 receptors. Therefore, the urate clearance rate was measured in seven volunteers with 1-desamino-8-D-arginine vasopressin (dDAVP)-induced hyponatremia, with dDVAP stimulating exclusively the V2 receptors (Group I), and in six patients with SIADH (Group II) during both normo- and hyponatremia. As expected, in both groups, the serum uric acid concentration decreased during hyponatremia, but did so to a larger extent in the patients with SIADH (-53% versus -29%, P < 0.02). Despite similar levels of hyponatremia (126 +/- 5 mmol/L and 125 +/- 5.5 mmol/L), of hypoproteinemia (64 +/- 5 g/L and 63 +/- 5 g/L) and of salt excretion (FENa, 0.66 +/- 0.28% and 0.73 +/- 0.25%), the urate clearance (8.3 +/- 3.3 mL/min) and the fractional excretion of filtered uric acid (5.7 +/- 2%) in Group I were not significantly different during hyponatremia than during normonatremia (6.4 +/- 1.5 mL/min and 5.4 +/- 0.9%). On the other hand, in Group II, both parameters were increased (17.8 +/- 2.9 mL/min and 19.6 +/- 5.3%; P < 0.001) and both values were higher than in the dDAVP-induced hyponatremia (P < 0.01). Additionally, the administration of a potent V1-receptor agonist (triglycyl-lysine-vasopressin) in a patient with central diabetes insipidus with preexisting dDAVP-induced hyponatremia produced a rapid increase of urate clearance. Because dDAVP acts only on the V2 receptors, these data suggest that the higher urate clearance observed during hyponatremia related to SIADH is not only the consequence of an increased "effective vascular volume," but that V1-receptor stimulation also contributes to it, by a mechanism that remains to be determined.
Adult↗
Therapeutic recommendations for management of severe hyponatremia: current concepts on pathogenesis and prevention of neurologic complications.
Patients with hyponatremia are exposed to major neurological complications. On the one hand hyponatremia itself produces brain edema, increased intracranial pressure which potentially leads to subsequent neuropathological sequelae or death. On the other hand excessive correction could be followed by development of brain demyelinating lesions (central pontine or extrapontine myelinolysis) with major disability or fatal outcome. Understanding of brain adaptative mechanisms to changes in osmolality largely contributes to explain these neurological events. When serum sodium decreases, the brain prevents swelling by extruding electrolytes and organic osmolytes, a process almost fully achieved after 48 h. Conversely, during subsequent increase in serum sodium, reestablishment of intracerebral osmolytes occurs but their reuptake is more delayed (+/- 5 days). In both circumstances, these mechanisms can be overwhelmed, leading to brain damage. Acute hyponatremia (< 48 h) is generally hospital-acquired, mainly in the postoperative state and/or after excessive fluid administration. After abrupt fall in serum sodium, seizure, respiratory arrest and coma may develop and these manifestations are sometimes explosive in nature. Recognition of even minor symptoms is crucial and implies prompt correction. There is generally no risk of brain myelinolysis in acute hyponatremia. Some factors are suspected to aggravate the prognosis of hyponatremic encephalopathy, including female gender (menstruant women), hypoxia and young age. Chronic hyponatremia (> 48 h) usually develops outside the hospital and is generally better tolerated. The risks of brain myelinolysis can be largely reduced by limiting the correction level to < or = 15 mEq/1/24 h. However, if necessary, the initial rate of correction can be rapid provided that the final correction remains < 15 mEq/1/24 h. However, when other recognized risk factors for myelinolysis (hypokalemia, liver disease, poor nutritional state, burns) are present, correction should not exceed 10 mEq/1/24 h. Demyelinization is also observed in hypernatremia but it follows greater (50%) increase in serum sodium than from hyponatremic baseline. For symptomatic hyponatremia, rapid correction is usually obtained by hypertonic saline (3%) infusion. Another option consists in administration of intravenous or oral urea. Urea allows a rapid reduction of brain edema and intracranial pressure which is followed by subsequent correction of hyponatremia. Experimental data also suggest that treatment of hyponatremia with urea is associated with a lower incidence of myelinolysis. In hyponatremic patients without symptoms, there is no need for rapid correction and the treatment should be more conservative. Close monitoring of the serum sodium is indicated initially and if necessary, correction must be stopped and diuresis interrupted with dDAVP. Given recent experimental data, in patients overly corrected (delta SNa > 15 mEq/1/24 h), the risk of myelinolysis could be greatly reduced by rapidly decreasing the serum sodium through hypotonic fluids administration and dDAVP.
Animals↗
[Peripheral ulcerative keratitis and a form of limited wegener's granulomatosis].
A man aged 68 years presents superior limbal infiltrates at his left eye two weeks before a marginal ulcer which quickly perforates. He has no systemic complaint. Clinical, biological, radiologic and histological evaluations disclose superior airways and lungs implications, an inflammatory syndrome, high ANCA (antineutrophiles cytoplamic antibodies) titer and vasculitis. There is no sign of renal involvement. A limited form of Wegener's granulomatosis is diagnosed. The outcome is favorable with a partial penetrating keratoplasty and systemic corticosteroid therapy in association with immunosuppressive drugs. This so called limited form of Wegener's granulomatosis is sight threatening when eye is the initial presentation. The early diagnostic and treatment will be performed by the help of ANCA in cases with subclinical systemic manifestations.
Aged↗
Combined fractional excretion of sodium and urea better predicts response to saline in hyponatremia than do usual clinical and biochemical parameters.
BACKGROUND: The treatment of hyponatremic patients requires physicians to make a therapeutic choice between saline infusion and water restriction. Therefore, they need readily available and reliable parameters to facilitate making that choice. This study was designed to determine whether the use of clearance ratios can help clinicians recognize saline-responding hyponatremic patients. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Thirty-five nonedematous, hospitalized, hyponatremic patients were classified according to their history and saline response into four groups: diuretic-taking patients, polydipsic patients, saline responders, and saline nonresponders. Within these four groups, clinical and biochemical volume-related parameters, including clearance ratios, were prospectively evaluated before infusion of 2 L isotonic saline. Clearance ratios as well as usual clinical and biochemical parameters were tested for their accuracy in predicting saline responsiveness. RESULTS: Both positive (70%) and negative (54.5%) predictive values for hypovolemia were unsatisfactory; clinical prediction of hypovolemia was also characterized by low sensitivity (41.1%), but acceptable specificity (80%). In the polydipsia and saline-nonresponder groups, plasma urea and uric acid values tended to be lower than in the diuretic and saline-responder groups. However, the usefulness of these parameters was limited by too large an overlap among the different groups. In both polydipsic patients and saline responders, urinary sodium concentration was low. The combined amount of urinary sodium and potassium in relation to plasma sodium did not discriminate among the different groups. Most helpful in distinguishing among the groups was a combination of several clearance ratios (fractional excretions of sodium, potassium, urea, and uric acid), since the predictive use of each parameter on its own was restricted. The best indicator of saline responsiveness was a low fractional excretion of filtered sodium (< 0.5%) combined with a low fractional excretion of urea (< 55%). CONCLUSION: The accuracy of clinical evaluation for predicting the state of extracellular fluid volume in hyponatremia is low. The combination of low fractional sodium excretion (< 0.5%) and low fractional urea excretion (< 55%) is the best biochemical way to predict saline response, whereas high fractional potassium excretion (> 20%) indicates diuretic intake.
Aged↗
Indirect evidence to suggest that prolactin induces salt retention in cirrhosis.
Prolactin is known to have renal sodium retention properties in animals. In man, only two studies have suggested a similar effect in healthy volunteers or in patients with microprolactinoma. Since hyperprolactinemia is frequently observed in liver disease, this prospective study of 19 patients evaluated the influence of prolactin on urinary electrolytes excretion in cirrhosis. Basal hyperprolactinemia was found in 14 out of 19 cases. The effect of serum prolactin elevation on renal sodium and potassium excretion was studied in all patients after thyrotropin-releasing hormone stimulation (200 micrograms), with seven consecutive hourly urinary samples. Patients were separated into two groups according to amount of prolactin discharge after thyrotropin-releasing hormone injection. Group I included patients with "low prolactin release", defined as the difference between basal and peak prolactin values (delta prolactin) < 1000 mu u/ml (n = 8), and no change in natriuresis could be observed. In contrast, in group II with a "high PRL release" (delta prolactin > 1000 mu u/ml, n = 11), significant reductions in urinary sodium (p < 0.01) and potassium (p < 0.02) excretion were observed, which lasted until the third hour after thyrotropin-releasing hormone injection. A significant correlation was found between peak prolactin values and the decrements of natriuresis (r = 0.70, p < 0.02). The pattern of urinary electrolyte changes and the stability of the ratio UK/UK+Na suggest a possible sodium-retaining effect of prolactin localized proximally to the distal tubule.
Adult↗
Prevention of brain demyelination in rats after excessive correction of chronic hyponatremia by serum sodium lowering.
Brain myelinolysis occurs after correction of chronic hyponatremia in rats when the magnitude of increase in serum sodium (delta SNa) exceeds 20 to 25 mEq/liter/24 hr (the critical threshold for brain). We tested the hypothesis that after a sustained excessive correction, brain lesions (BL) could be prevented by subsequently decreasing the serum sodium below the critical threshold for brain through the administration of hypotonic fluids. After three days of severe (< 115 mEq/liter) chronic (3 days) hyponatremia, 55 rats were submitted to an excessive correction (delta SNa > 25 mEq/liter) by a single i.p. infusion of hypertonic saline (NaCl). This osmotic stress was maintained during 12 hours before the serum sodium decrease was initiated. Thirty-two rats reached the twelfth post-correction hour without symptoms. In group 1 after a large (delta SNa 32 mEq/liter) and sustained (12 hr) osmotic stress, the natremia was rapidly (2 hr) decreased by the administration of oral tap water and, at the end of the first 24 hours, the magnitude of correction was maintained below 20 mEq/liter/24 hr. All the rats fared well in this group and were free of neurologic symptoms. Mild BL were noticed in only 20% of them. On the contrary, in controls (no hypotonic fluids administration at the twelfth hour) whose serum sodium was left overcorrected, all the rats became symptomatic and 57% of them died rapidly. Brain damage developed in 100% of the surviving rats. In group 2, despite hypotonic fluids administration, the serum sodium decreased insufficiently and the correction was > 20 mEq/liter at the end of the first 24 hours (delta SNa 25 mEq/liter).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Animals↗
Restoration by corticosteroids of the hyperaldosteronism in hyponatraemic rats with panhypopituitarism.
1. In the syndrome of inappropriate secretion of antidiuretic hormone, hyponatraemia is associated with a normal bicarbonate concentration despite dilution. This normal bicarbonate concentration is related to the development of a hyperaldosteronism, which is attributed to a direct stimulation of the zona glomerulosa by the hyponatraemic state. Some workers have suggested that, to develop this hyperaldosteronism requires the presence of a pituitary factor. To determine whether the pituitary gland plays a role in this hyponatraemia-induced hyperaldosteronism, water intoxication was performed for 24 h in normal and in panhypopituitaric rats. 2. In normal rats, hyponatraemia (108 mmol/l), induced by the administration of 1-desamino-8-D-arginine vasopressin and 2.5% D-glucose-0.45% NaCl by gavage (15% body weight) was associated with a mild increase in bicarbonate concentration, and blood acid-base equilibrium showed a mixed metabolic and respiratory alkalosis (pH 7.57, partial pressure of CO2 29 mmHg, base excess +5.5 mmol/l), and aldosterone concentration was increased 3-fold as compared with the control value. When hyponatraemia (110 mmol/l) was induced in a similar manner in panhypopituitaric rats, we observed a very low aldosterone concentration (< 50 pg/ml) and a compensated respiratory alkalosis (pH 7.45, partial pressure of CO2 30 mmHg, base excess -2.6 mmol/l). The restoration of a hyperaldosteronaemic state in this group of rats was related essentially to corticosteroid intake. 3. These data suggest that corticosteroids play a critical role in the development of hyponatraemia-related hyperaldosteronism, a phenomenon not necessarily dependent on a pituitary factor.
Acid-Base Equilibrium↗
Uric acid, anion gap and urea concentration in the diagnostic approach to hyponatremia.
We analyzed the serum anion gap (AG = sodium plus potassium minus chloride plus bicarbonate, N = 11-21 mEq/l), serum uric acid and urea concentrations in hyponatremia of various origins. We found that characteristic chemical patterns emerged in association with different hypotonic states: Low uric acid concentration was typically observed in the SIADH and in hyponatremia related to hypopituitarism. The same observation was also frequently noted in hyponatremia secondary to diuretics or to polydypsia. In the SIADH, we observed a decrease in the AG but to a greater extent (-26%) than one would expect from the simple dilutional effect (-16%). Fifty percent of the patients presented an AG lower than 11 mEq/l. In patients with diuretic-related hyponatremia, one group presented an hypouricemia and a low AG as in SIADH (reflecting volume expansion), in the other group the AG was normal or increased as was uric acid concentration (reflecting volume depletion). In adrenocorticotropin deficiency, hyponatremia was typically associated with a low bicarbonate concentration, a normal AG and hypouricemia. In polydypsic patients with hyponatremia, the AG was usually normal or increased despite sometimes very low sodium levels. Uric acid levels were highly variable, most often decreased. We also noted in these patients that the serum urea levels were correlated with urine osmolality (R = +0.8; p < 0.001), and in 40% of them we observed very low blood urea concentration (0.5-2 mmol/l) at the admission time. In hyponatremia related to cardiac failure or cirrhosis, the AG was usually normal despite mild hypoproteinemia.
Acid-Base Equilibrium↗
[Hypotonic hyponatremia: therapeutic and controversial aspects].
Inappropriately slow or excessive correction of severe (< 115 mEq/l) hyponatremia could induce a high morbidity and mortality rate. In acute (< 48 hr) hyponatremia, there is an increased risk for death and permanent brain damage due to grand mal seizure and respiratory arrest. Indeed, if correction is delayed, the ability of brain to adapt to hyponatremia by limiting the amount of brain swelling is not sufficient and brain stem herniation occurs. Menstruant women are particularly likely to experience these complications. In chronic (> 48 hr) hyponatremia, the extrusion of intracerebral osmolytes decreases the brain size which returns to an almost normal volume. In this situation, an excessive correction (> 15-20 mEq/l/24 h) will lead to brain dehydration and brain demyelination also called "central pontine myelinolysis" or "osmotic demyelination syndrome" (ODS) could develop. Asymptomatic patients with chronic hyponatremia are particularly at risk to develop brain demyelination, therefore, they must be corrected cautiously with frequent monitoring of the natremia and with a magnitude of correction not exceeding 15 mEq/l/24 h. The different therapeutic approach regarding to the origin of the hyponatremia are considered.
Acute Disease↗