Dopamine and Polyuria

Excerpt

To the editor: We would like to report the case of a patient with an unusual but important association with dopamine.

A 75-year-old black man was evaluated for obtundation. He was found to have a left frontoparietal encephalitis and presumed endocarditis despite negative blood cultures. He developed hypotension during his hospitalization and was begun on a dopamine infusion. Before this hypotensive episode his intake and output were approximately equal. His renal function was stable; a calculated creatinine clearance rate was 80 mL/min. The urine specific gravity was between 1.020 and 1.030.

During the dopamine infusion, which ranged from 9 to