Total body water and total exchangeable sodium in the sickle cell patient

Sickle cell patients are frequently in negative water balance (1) which invariably antedates a crisis. Intravenous fluid administration is an important adjunct to all forms of therapy during a crisis. The studies reported here were done to investigate further the physiological basis of intravenous fluid therapy of the sickle cell patient (homozygous haemoglobin S, SS) in crisis.