Management of salt poisoning in an extremely low birth weight infant

Abstract

We present the first reported case of severe salt poisoning in an extremely low birth weight neonate. The salt poisoning was managed with the careful use of intravenous fluids, insulin to manage the severe hyperglycemia, and furosemide to induce a saline diuresis. The hypertonicity was normalized slowly over 3 days by following the corrected serum sodium (Na) (serum Na+2.7 mEq for every 100 mg/dl of glucose over 100). No neurological damage was seen in our patient during the development of the hypertonicity or its correction. This suggests that the premature brain can develop osmoprotective molecules if hypertonicity develops slowly over 2-3 days. Slow correction is therefore recommended to avoid the development of water intoxication during correction. Despite the development of mild reversible renal failure, a large saline diuresis was induced with furosemide, thereby avoiding the need for dialysis in our patient. The only complication was the development of necrotizing enterocolitis, which has not been previously reported in association with salt poisoning. © 1994 IPNA.