[Sodium supply in operations under extracorporeal circulation in children]

In order to explain the edematous appearance found in infants after ECC associated with hyponatremia, the authors studied the supply of sodium per and post-operatively in 42 children aged from 11 days to 13 years undergoing correction of the cardiopathy under ECC. This study enables one to find that there is an inflation of sodium after intervention under ECC, which is even more important, the longer the duration of the ECC. It is not related to a failure in urinary excretion of Na+ and predominates in infants. It is related with the supply of sodium during transfusion and seems to be the cause of certain respiratory complications met with following ECC.