Updated review of Sodium Correction Rate in Hyponatremia and Hypernatremia

Hypo- and hypernatremia are common electrolytes abnormalities encountered in clinical practice characterized by abnormal serum osmolality. After a thorough evaluation of the etiology, management in a subset of patients with hypo- and hypernatremia can involve use of hyper- or hypotonic fluids, respectively, to safely correct osmolality towards normal range. This calculator will provide rate of infusion of various types of fluids for desired correction rates. Several caveats must be noted prior to use of this calculator. First, the management of severe hypo- and hypernatremia should involve expert physicians and often requires ICU level of care. Second, rate of correction based on current guidelines must be determined prior to using this calculator as excessively rapid correction could lead to severe, long-term adverse consequences such as osmotic demyelination syndrome (ODS) from excessively rapid correction of chronic hyponatremia. Third, this calculator does not account for other fluid intake and output, and assumes these to be nil. Thus, this calculator is merely a starting point for fluid type and rate selection but no substitute for frequent monitoring of serum sodium.