JAMA : the journal of the American Medical Association
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Multicenter Study
Preoperative serum potassium levels and perioperative outcomes in cardiac surgery patients. Multicenter Study of Perioperative Ischemia Research Group.
Although potassium is critical for normal electrophysiology, the association between abnormal preoperative serum potassium level and perioperative adverse events such as arrhythmias has not been examined rigorously. ⋯ Perioperative arrhythmia and the need for CPR increased as preoperative serum potassium level decreased below 3.5 mmol/L. Although interventional trials are required to determine whether preoperative intervention mitigates these adverse associations, preoperative repletion is low cost and low risk, and our data suggest that screening and repletion be considered in patients scheduled for cardiac surgery.