Very interesting results of the RFN Poll of the Week regarding different opinions regarding managing the potassium bath in a patient with hyperkalemia! Of the options give, there was a near three-way split between the first three answers…
Trust the Swiss to approach a problem from a confectioners viewpoint. The options for managing hyperkalemia in dialysis patients have always been limited and unpalatable, but this preliminary clinical study from Berne provides some hope. It suggests that…
Okay, you’re probably not going to see this in your lifetime, but imagine how cool you’ll seem when you whip out “matchstick ingestion” as part of the differential diagnosis for hyperkalemia and AKI. Matchstick heads are comprised of…
A relatively recent study by Bockenhauer et al in NEJM reports the identification of a new disease gene in a rare tubulopathy syndrome that sheds light on the physiologic mechanisms of salt transport in the kidney. The article…
The potassium-sparing diuretics consist of the following 4 medications–only some of which (spironolactone & eplerenone in the list below) are structurally similar. Spironolactone is an antagonist of the aldosterone receptor, which like other steroid receptors is an…
Pendred Syndrome is an autosomal recessive disorder caused by mutations in the solute carrier family 26 member 4 gene (SLC26A4) which has some relevance to nephrology and acid-base metabolism. Its main phenotypic manifestations are thyroid goiter and sensorineural…
I didn’t learn this until recently, but some commonly used oral contraceptives–for example Yasmin-28 (the progestin-derivative drospirenone + ethinyl estradiol)–has some mineralocorticoid blocking effect, similar to that seen for spironolactone. It may therefore be associated with hyperkalemia, particularly…
Hypokalemic periodic paralysis is a relatively rare disease in which individuals experience transient, severe episodes of hypokalemia as a result of rapid intracellular potassium shift into skeletal muscle. The attacks typically manifest as muscle cramps, muscle paralysis, or…
In 1939, Irwin Page performed an experiment in a dog model in which one kidney was wrapped in cellophane. The resultant external compression on the kidney resulted in elevated renin-angiotensin-aldosterone levels and severe hypertension. Over time, a loss…
In recent years, there has been the suggestion that thiazide diuretics–long considered a front-line therapy for hypertension based on the ALLHAT study and others–may increase the risk of diabetes. Subsequent retrospective analysis of other major historical cohorts by…
