NIH study finds no significant link between brain injury and IV fluid treatment of pediatric diabetic ketoacidosis

The National Institutes of Health has issued a media advisory on a study conducted by the PECARN (Pediatric Emergency Care Applied Research Network) DKA FLUID Study Group.

Giving children intravenous (IV) fluids to treat diabetic ketoacidosis — an emergency complication of untreated diabetes — does not appear to worsen the brain swelling that may accompany the condition, according to a study supported by the National Institutes of Health. The findings, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, contrast with widespread concern that providing too much IV fluid may result in serious brain injury.

Jennifer Trainor, MD (pictured), Associate Professor of Pediatrics (Emergency Medicine) and Medical Education at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and an attending physician in Emergency Medicine at Lurie Children's, is a co-author on the study.