Korean J Nephrol.  2010 Mar;29(2):247-249.

A Case of Acute Kidney injury After Seawater Immersion

• Park JS
• Kim JH
• Gil HW
• Yang JO
• Lee EY
• Hong SY

Abstract

Acute renal failure (ARF) secondary to immersion and near-drowning has rarely been described and it is poorly understood. ARF associated with immersion and near-drowning might be involved with systemic tissue hypoxia, hypovolemia and hypothermia. Some reports have shown that rhabdomyolysis could be involved. We report here on a 52 year old seaman who developed ARF after cold sea-water immersion. He had been swimming for one hour in cold sea-water because his ship became stuck on a rock. After 2 days, his serum creatinine level was increased to 7.8 mg/dL, and pulmonary edema was developed. The serum myoglobin level was 495.1 ng/mL. He was diagnosed as oliguric ARF and treated with hemodialysis. Thereafter, renal function was gradually recovered. We presumed that hypothermia-induced vasoconstriction, hypovolemia and rhabdomyolysis were involved in ARF in the patient. It should be considered that cold sea-water immersion for a long time could evoke ARF in healthy men.

Keyword

Hypothermia; Acute kidney failure; Immersion

MeSH Terms

Acute Kidney Injury
Anoxia
Cold Temperature
Creatinine
Humans
Hypothermia
Hypovolemia
Immersion
Male
Myoglobin
Near Drowning
Pulmonary Edema
Renal Dialysis
Rhabdomyolysis
Seawater
Ships
Swimming
Vasoconstriction
Creatinine
Myoglobin