Stop Hypernatremia, Use Metolazone, for Aggressive, Controlled, Effective Diuresis
Status:
Withdrawn
Trial end date:
2013-06-01
Target enrollment:
Participant gender:
Summary
Patients who are on mechanical ventilation in an intensive care unit often require diursis as
part of their pre-extubation regimen. The drug of choice for diuresis has traditionally been
furosemide. However, this drug cause hypernatremia (a rise in serum sodium) in a significant
proportion of patients. Hypernatremia is traditionally treated by providing free water
supplementation to the patient. This strategy creates a vicious and unproductive cycle of
giving free water, and then diuresing it off. We propose a strategy for breaking this cycle
by using a second diuretic-- metolazone-- which has a tendency to rid the body of more
sodium, thereby minimizing hypernatremia.