High serum aluminium levels and acute reversible encephalopathy in a 4-year-old boy with acute renal failure.

We report a 4-year-old boy, in acute renal failure, who had acute encephalopathy with very high serum aluminium levels (135 micrograms/l [5 mumol/l]) after receiving vesical irrigations with alum. We believe that in situations of non-focal neurological deterioration with no apparent cause in patients with impaired renal function receiving aluminium-containing preparations, the possibility of acute aluminium poisoning should be considered.