Practical Methods for Estimating the Basic Water Requirement During Oliguric Renal Failure

SUMMARY A quantitative approach to the analysis of water requirements of anuric subjects is presented, showing the importance of cell water as an occult gain to the water balance during under‐nutrition. Methods of varying accuracy and complexity have been developed for prescribing the daily basic water requirement, and for determining the desirable daily weight loss. The usefulness of the methods has been tested by applying them to four “theoretically anuric” obese subjects, in whom the state of water balance was accurately measured during a period of 12 days' under‐nutrition. The daily basic water requirement for an average adult anuric is about 400 ml. if uræmia is mild, and less if uræmia is developing rapidly.