Cerebral salt-wasting syndrome

Cerebral salt-wasting syndrome, written CSWS, is a rare endocrine condition in which a person has a low blood sodium concentration and becomes dehydrated after an injury to the brain or in the presence of tumors in or around the brain. The kidneys work normally but excrete too much sodium. The condition was first described in 1950. Its cause and its best management remain controversial. Writers in neurology, neurosurgery, nephrology and critical care disagree on whether it is a distinct condition or a special form of the syndrome of inappropriate antidiuretic hormone secretion, known as SIADH. The atlas records the dispute as part of the condition rather than settling it.