• Eur J Emerg Med · Feb 2010

    Review

    Hypokalemic periodic paralysis: a case series, review of the literature and update of management.

    • Juma M Alkaabi, Ahmed Mushtaq, Fatma N Al-Maskari, Nagi A Moussa, and Salah Gariballa.
    • Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, UAE University, PO Box 17666, Al Ain, UAE. j.kaabi@uaeu.ac.ae
    • Eur J Emerg Med. 2010 Feb 1; 17 (1): 45-7.

    AbstractThe objective of this study was to present a case series of patients with hypokalemic periodic paralysis. We described all patients with diagnosis of hypokalemic periodic paralysis admitted to the Al Ain Hospital (UAE) during the year 2006. Seventeen patients, all males and mostly Asians, were presented to the Al Ain Hospital over a 12-month period. The majority were admitted during the summer months. Four were thyrotoxic. All of the 17 patients received oral potassium supplements and recovered well without any major complications. In conclusion, clinicians should have a high index of suspicion, especially among Asians presenting with flaccid paralysis and hypokalemia. The main steps in the management include exclusion of other causes of hypokalemia, potassium replacement, hydration and close monitoring of the cardiac rhythm and serum potassium levels. When possible, the underlying cause must be adequately addressed to prevent the persistence or recurrence of paralysis.

      Pubmed     Full text   Copy Citation     Plaintext  

      Add institutional full text...

    Notes

     
    Knowledge, pearl, summary or comment to share?
    300 characters remaining
    help        
    You can also include formatting, links, images and footnotes in your notes
    • Simple formatting can be added to notes, such as *italics*, _underline_ or **bold**.
    • Superscript can be denoted by <sup>text</sup> and subscript <sub>text</sub>.
    • Numbered or bulleted lists can be created using either numbered lines 1. 2. 3., hyphens - or asterisks *.
    • Links can be included with: [my link to pubmed](http://pubmed.com)
    • Images can be included with: ![alt text](https://bestmedicaljournal.com/study_graph.jpg "Image Title Text")
    • For footnotes use [^1](This is a footnote.) inline.
    • Or use an inline reference [^1] to refer to a longer footnote elseweher in the document [^1]: This is a long footnote..

    hide…