[Bartter's syndrome: seven cases in siblings. Hypothesis of mild forms (author's transl)]

Three children with a Bartter's syndrome have been investigated: all of them had growth retardation, hypokalemia (less than 3 mmol/l), raised plasma renin activity and urinary prostaglandins (PGE2 and PGF2 alpha) and a decreased sensibility for angiotensin. In the siblings two children had also growth retardation with mild biological signs of Bartter's syndrome, and two children had normal growth slight hypokalemia raised RPA and urinary PH, and normal sensibility for angiotensin. These data suggest mild forms of this syndrome which could be the Bartter's syndrome diagnosed in adults after laxatives or diuretics absorption. Besides these data stated a negative correlation (p less than 0,01) between plasma K+ and RPA, negative correlation (p less than 0,01) between plasma K+ and urinary PGE2 and a positive correlation (p less than 0,01) between RPA and urinary PGE2. From these observations physiopathology of Bartter's syndrome is discussed.