1 Childrens Hospital of Orange County, Orange, CA 92668
To the Editor.
In response to the article "Is Chloride Depletion an Important Contributing Cause of Death in Infants With Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia?" (Pediatrics l986;77:212-216), we are compelled to point out that furosemide (Lasix) therapy may well be directly responsible for the metabolic alterations observed. Hazinski (J Pediatr l985;l06:8l-85) beautifully demonstrated in rabbits that chronic furosemiode administration not only caused metabolic alkalosis (pH 7.46) associated with hypochloremia (Cl 84 mEq/L) but also resulted in compensatory alveolar hypoventilation and secondary respiratory acidosis (Paco2 55 mmHg).