Hyponatremia and Renal Wasting of Sodium in Patients with Malfunction of the Central Nervous System

Abstract

SEVERAL reports of patients with Central-nervous-system disorders, hyponatremia and an abnormally high urinary excretion of sodium have appeared in the literature.^{1 2 3 4} In some the defect in electrolyte physiology was attributed to faulty renal tubular reabsorption of sodium. More recently, Schwartz et al.,^{5 , 6} Epstein and Levitin,⁷ Carter, Rector and Seldin,⁸ McCrory and Macaulay⁹ and Fourman and Leeson¹⁰ have presented cases of hyponatremia that were apparently related to a sustained and inappropriate secretion of antidiuretic hormone.In the past two years we have observed 4 patients with manifestations of deranged function of the central nervous system in whom hyponatremia appeared to be . . .