Hyperkalemia in Emergency Medicine Differential Diagnoses

  • Author: David Garth, MD; Chief Editor: Erik D Schraga, MD   more...
 
Updated: Apr 25, 2012
 
 

Differential Diagnoses

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Contributor Information and Disclosures
Author

David Garth, MD  Attending Physician, Department of Emergency Medicine, Mary Washington Hospital

David Garth, MD is a member of the following medical societies: American Academy of Emergency Medicine

Disclosure: Nothing to disclose.

Specialty Editor Board

Erik D Schraga, MD  Staff Physician, Department of Emergency Medicine, Mills-Peninsula Emergency Medical Associates

Disclosure: Nothing to disclose.

Francisco Talavera, PharmD, PhD  Adjunct Assistant Professor, University of Nebraska Medical Center College of Pharmacy; Editor-in-Chief, Medscape Drug Reference

Disclosure: Medscape Salary Employment

Howard A Bessen, MD  Professor of Medicine, Department of Emergency Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, David Geffen School of Medicine; Program Director, Harbor-UCLA Medical Center

Howard A Bessen, MD is a member of the following medical societies: American College of Emergency Physicians

Disclosure: Nothing to disclose.

John D Halamka, MD, MS  Associate Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center; Chief Information Officer, CareGroup Healthcare System and Harvard Medical School; Attending Physician, Division of Emergency Medicine, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center

John D Halamka, MD, MS is a member of the following medical societies: American College of Emergency Physicians, American Medical Informatics Association, Phi Beta Kappa, and Society for Academic Emergency Medicine

Disclosure: Nothing to disclose.

Chief Editor

Erik D Schraga, MD  Staff Physician, Department of Emergency Medicine, Mills-Peninsula Emergency Medical Associates

Disclosure: Nothing to disclose.

Additional Contributors

I would like to thank my wife Mary, and my children, for allowing me the time away from them to keep on researching.

References

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Peaked T waves in hyperkalemia.
Peaked T waves in hyperkalemia.
Widened QRS complexes in hyperkalemia.
Widened QRS complexes in a patient whose serum potassium level was 7.8 mEq/L.
ECG of a patient with pretreatment potassium level of 7.8 mEq/L and widened QRS complexes after receiving 1 ampule of calcium chloride. Notice narrowing of QRS complexes and reduction of T waves.
 
 
 
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