Date of Award
5-1949
Document Type
Thesis - Restricted
Degree Name
Master of Science (MS)
Department
Medical
First Advisor
Francis D. Murphy
Abstract
It would be difficult to find a subject which is employed more frequently in everyday clinical practice than the problem of salt and water equilibrium. Hardly a disease process of any significance afflicts the human organism but it becomes concerned at some time or other with the body's supply of electrolytes and fluid and with the deviations thereof. Clinicians of today are certainly well alerted to the need for observation of this physiological balance. They sometimes find it puzzling, however, to determine the proper corrective procedures and the extent to which they are to be employed in any single instance. Probably the reason is that salt and water disturbances have not lent themselves well to hard and fast definition in a physiochemical system which undergoes almost constant flux.
The many investigations which have been carried out in attempts to explain and integrate these changes have demonstrated some of the most skillful management and intelligent observation.in the history of modern investigative medicine. However, they have been confined mainly to studies in normal individuals, in certain disease processes, and in certain types of dehydration. Relatively little attention has been devoted to sodium and chloride balance in the extremes of age, all stages of cardiovascular disease, renal disease, and terminal states generally.
With all due respect for the great work already accomplished, it has been the purpose of this study to examine some of the facets of the problems noted and to describe our observations on fluid and electrolyte balance as carried out on the Medical Wards of the Milwaukee County Hospital. It is not to be expected that these comments will effect startling or revolutionary changes in our present knowledge of sodium or chloride balance. It is rather to be hoped that this study, in conjunction with numerous similar investigations currently in progress, may in some way further our knowledge of salt and water metabolism and add to our understanding of the problem as a whole.
Recommended Citation
LaBissoniere, Paul G., "Sodium and Chloride Balance in Various Typers of Cardiac and Renal Disease and Observations on Associated Physiologic Changes" (1949). Master's Theses (1922-2009) Access restricted to Marquette Campus. 5721.
https://epublications.marquette.edu/theses/5721