Hydroelectrolytic determination in paraplegics (total body water; exchangeable sodium and total body potassium)

Measurements of total body water and total exchangeable sodium, by isotopic dilution, and of total body potassium by whole body counting of the naturally occurring 40K isotope, were performed on stabilised paraplegic or tetraplegic subjects. Nineteen patients were investigated by the complete set of tests, six by only body counting. The results of total body potassium are expressed, following a uniform scale, as "relative values", which were established by the processing of reference values, from numberous paired healthy subjects.