Fatal osmotic demyelination following urgent start hemodialysis in a patient with normal serum sodium.

Abstract

End stage kidney disease (ESKD) patients in the developing countries often present late for dialysis initiation with advanced uremia and life-threatening complications. Urgent start dialysis in such emergent situations exposes the patient to risk of uremia related complications as well as iatrogenic insults. We report the case of a middle-aged man with ESKD who presented late with acute pulmonary edema and hyperkalemia and developed osmotic demyelination syndrome following urgent start hemodialysis. Osmotic demyelination syndrome in this patient is noteworthy since there was no accompanying hyponatremia, the most commonly recognized antecedent. We propose that rapid lowering of serum osmolality by aggressive hemodialysis is sufficient to incite osmotic demyelination syndrome in patients who have long-standing uremia and high blood urea level. Malnutrition resulting from uremia might be a compounding factor in this scenario. Our patient had a characteristic initial presentation of osmotic demyelination syndrome with locked-in-state which later progressed to respiratory failure and death.