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Hyperpotassemia During Massive Blood Transfusions
Author(s) -
Linko K.,
Tigerstedt I.
Publication year - 1984
Publication title -
acta anaesthesiologica scandinavica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.738
H-Index - 107
eISSN - 1399-6576
pISSN - 0001-5172
DOI - 10.1111/j.1399-6576.1984.tb02046.x
Subject(s) - medicine , blood transfusion , intensive care medicine , anesthesia
Eleven of 21 patients having received more than 10 units of whole blood developed hyperpotassemia during the rapid phase of transfusion. The increase in serum potassium from initial values correlated well (r=0.74) with the rate of the transfusion. Three of the hyperpotassemic patients developed cardiac arrest but no life‐threatening arrhythmias were registered in the normokalemic patients. In contrast to most previous studies, transient hyperpotassemia often necessitating aggressive therapy was quite common in our massively transfused patients.