Medical Dictionary

Bartter syndrome

noun Bart·ter syndrome \ ˈbärt-ər- \

variants: or Bartter's syndrome \ˈbärt-ər(z)-\

medical Definition of Bartter syndrome

: a genetic kidney disorder that is marked by impaired reabsorption of sodium with excessive urinary loss of sodium and water accompanied by hypokalemic alkalosis, aldosteronism, elevated levels of renin in the blood, nephrocalcinosis, and hyperplasia of juxtaglomerular cells

Bartter syndrome is an uncommon cause of salt-wasting hypokalemic alkalosis in which calcium excretion is normal or increased.
—William L. Nyhan, in Inherited Metabolic Diseases: A Clinical Approach, 2010

Bartter's syndrome, an inherited malady, upsets the kidney's control of body chemistry.
—Paul G. Donohue, The Chattanooga (Tennessee) Times Free Press, 5 May 1999

Note: There are several variants of Bartter syndrome, including a life-threatening form evident at birth and a somewhat less severe form with onset during early childhood. Bartter syndrome is inherited as an autosomal recessive trait requiring that both parents pass on a copy of the defective gene on a chromosome other than a sex chromosome.

Biographical Note for bartter syndrome

Bartter, Frederic Crosby (1914–1983), American physiologist. Bartter's numerous medical positions included those of chief of the clinical endocrinology branch of the National Heart Institute; professor of pediatrics at Howard University and of medicine at Georgetown University, both in Washington, D.C.; associate chief of staff for research at Audie Murphy Veterans Hospital and professor of medicine at the University of Texas Health Science Center, both in San Antonio. In the course of his career he contributed over 300 articles on endocrinology and physiology. His areas of research included the physiology of the adrenal and parathyroid glands, especially the production of aldosterone. Besides describing the syndrome that now bears his name, he also described a syndrome marked by inappropriate antidiuretic hormone production, and he defined the biochemical basis of Cushing's syndrome.