Skip Navigation

Nephrology Dialysis Transplantation 2004 19(12):3165-3167; doi:10.1093/ndt/gfh479
This Article
Right arrow Full Text Freely available
Right arrow FREE Full Text (PDF) Freely available
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in ISI Web of Science
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Disclaimer
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Workeneh, B.
Right arrow Articles by Mitch, W. E.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Workeneh, B.
Right arrow Articles by Mitch, W. E.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

Nephrol Dial Transplant Vol. 19 No. 12 © ERA-EDTA 2004; all rights reserved

Case Report

The dilemma of diagnosing the cause of hypernatraemia: drinking habits vs diabetes insipidus

Biruh Workeneh1, Arun Balakumaran1, Daniel G. Bichet2 and William E. Mitch1

1 Department of Medicine, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, TX, USA and 2 Department of Genetics in Renal Disease, University of Montreal, Montreal, Canada

Correspondence and offprint requests to: William E. Mitch, MD, Edward Randall Professor and Chair, Department of Medicine, University of Texas, Galveston, 4.124 John Sealy Annex, 301 University Boulevard, Galveston, TX 77555-0569, USA. Email: wmitch@utmb.edu

Keywords: diabetes insipidus; hypernatraemia; hyperosmolality; pychosis; water metabolism

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.



   Introduction
 
Fortunately, hypernatraemia is not a common problem, occurring in <1% of patients in an acute care hospital. It is serious, however, as hypernatraemia is correlated with a high mortality rate [1]. A major reason that hypernatraemia is so rare in conscious adults is the presence of powerful, highly regulated responses to a rise in plasma osmolality, namely thirst and anti-diuretic hormone (ADH) release [1]. An increase in plasma osmolality of only 2 mOsm/kg above normal values stimulates thirst and ADH release, and ADH in turn causes water reabsorption by the kidney. Since osmolality is determined by the ratio of osmotically active particles to the volume of water in the body, thirst plus ADH release act to increase the volume of water in the body and correct the tendency to develop hyperosmolality/hypernatraemia. Clearly, both thirst and ADH release are required because failure to release ADH or failure . . . [Full Text of this Article]



   Case
 


   Discussion
 

Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?