Biochemical changes in neurosurgical patients under critical care treated with mannitol

Abstract A Study was carried out on ten patients undergoing operations for brain tumors, who were treated with mannitol solutions. This caused a significant depletion of serum sodium ion and an increase of discriminate osmolality (to 60 mosM/kg H20). A hypothesis about the particular biochemical mechanism, involving the electrolyte and water distribution, is presented.