[Life-threatening hyponatremia provoked by alternative treatment. An occurrence in a patient with chronic lymphocytic leukemia with no indication for treatment]. / Livstruende hyponatriaemi udløst af alternativ behandling. Et tilfaelde hos en patient med ikkebehandlingskraevende kronisk lymfatisk leukaemi.

Alternative medicine is a heterogeneous group of treatments which has become increasingly popular in cancer patients in the Western world in recent years. We describe a 77-year-old female with chronic lymphocytic leukemia, who developed severe hyponatremia during treatment with alternative medicine given by a general practitioner over a 3-year-period. From a hematological point of view, there was no need for this expensive treatment as the disease was stable with a normal hemoglobin and thrombocyte count and no B-symptoms. The case illustrates a need for better control of the alternative practitioners and for the adverse reactions to their treatments by the National Health Service.