Confusing Hyperkalemia

MANAGEMENT OF SEVERE HYPERKALEMIA

Confusing cortical columns.

T he late developmental neurobiologist, and a member of the National Academy of Sciences, Victor Hamburger told me during one of our discussions about the distinction between boring data and exciting concepts, ‘‘one can spend an entire lifetime correcting a flawed paper published in reputable journal and still loose the battle if people like the basic idea’’ (V. Hamburger, personal communicatio...

Are troponins confusing?

Correspondence to: Dr P O Collinson, Department of Chemical Pathology, St George’s Hospital, London SW17 0QT, UK; paul.collinson@ stgeorges.nhs.uk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . T he ability to measure the cardiac specific markers, cardiac troponin T (cTnT) and cardiac troponin I (cTnI) (the cardiac troponins), has produced a paradigm shift in the assessment of patients with susp...

Colour-coded wristbands confusing.

Hyperkalemia-induced complete heart block

Background: Potassium, as an extracellular ion, plays an important role in the electrophysiologic function of the myocardium and any change in extracellular concentration of this ion might have a marked impression upon myocyte electrophysiologic gain. High serum potassium levels are thought to impair pulse conduction in Purkinje fibers and ventricles more than that in the Atrio...