[Anuria caused by mercury poisoning (apropos of 15 cases)]

15 cases of acute renal failure following ingestion of bichloride of mercury were studied at Pahlavi medical center, university of Teheran, between 1962 and 1972. All the patients admitted suicide attempts. All had oliguria and uremia except one, in whom oliguria was moderate without azotemia. There were four deaths among the 15 patients, three of them with gastrointestinal hemorrhage; secondery infection and the prolonged acute uremia probably were the cause of death in another one. Early administration of B. A. L. and early frequent hemodialysis helps to support the patient through the period of oliguria and possibly to remove the mercury B.A.L. Complex. Although the mortality of mercury intoxication has decreased, gastrointestinal hemorrhages and secondery infections make its prognosis still unfavorable.