[The clinical importance of hyponatremia]

Hyponatremia is a most common disorder of electrolytes encountered in everyday clinical practice. Although many cases are mild and relatively asymptomatic, hyponatremia is nonetheless important clinically because of the potential for substantial morbidity and mortality. Despite the knowledge of hyponatremia since the mid-20th century, this common disorder remains incompletely understood in many basic areas because of its causation by multiple etiologies with differing pathophysiological mechanisms. Up to this time, the optimal treatment strategies have not been well defined. The authors present 3 typical hypotonic hyponatremic patients for colleages in clinical practice for studying, for establishing a common conception for the managing of hyponatremia. Orv Hetil. 2019; 160(8): 314-319.