Endocrine Abstracts

Acute hyponatremia can cause death if cerebral edema is not treated promptly. Conversely, if chronic hyponatremia is corrected too rapidly, osmotic demyelination may ensue, which also potentially is lethal. However, these severe complications of hyponatremia are relatively uncommon and often preventable. More commonly, hyponatremia predicts mortality in patients with advanced heart failure or liver cirrhosis. In these conditions, it generally is assumed that hyponatremia refle...

Hyponatraemia is the most common electrolyte disorder encountered in clinical practice, occurring in 15% to 30% of both acutely and chronically hospitalised patients. Hyponatraemia is important clinically because: 1) acute severe hyponatraemia can cause substantial morbidity and mortality; 2) mortality is higher in hyponatraemic patients with a wide range of underlying diseases; 3) overly rapid correction of chronic hyponatraemia can cause osmotic demyelination; 4) even mild &...