Chemical Changes in the Blood and the Occurrence of Uræmia following Head Injury.

URAEMIA as a complication of crush injuries of the limbs is now well known and the histology of the renal lesion has been well described by Bywaters and Dible (1942). The occurrence of uremia as a complication of head injuries without damage to any other part of the body has not been recognized. This paper describes firstly the results of an investigation begun in 1940 into alterations of various chemical constituents of the blood in patients with head injury only, but in whom no estimate of renal function was made, and secondly the results of renal function tests in 13 patients together with the findings in four cases of uraemia following head injury.