Hyponatremia now--a goldmine or a dead end?

Hyponatremia is a clinically relevant disorder. Ten to twenty per cent of patients in hospitals are affected by it. Hyponatremia is found to occur in almost every clinical department. Recently, vasopressin antagonists have been licensed to treat hyponatremia of the syndrome of inappropriate antidiuretic hormone secretion (SIADH). They provide physicians with the first specific and effective therapy of this hyponatremia. This opens up new avenues for clinical research into the symptoms, findings and consequences of hyponatremia.