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Anesth Analg 1977; 56:786-792
© 1977 International Anesthesia Research Society
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Acute Hypocapneic Hypokalemia

An latrogenic Anesthetic Complication

ROBERT EDWARDS, MD*, ALON P. WINNIE, MD{dagger}, and SOMAYAJI RAMAMURTHY, MD{ddagger}

*Independent Study Program Student, Abraham Lincoln School of Medicine, University of Illinois College of Medicine, Chicago, Illinois 60612. {dagger}Professor. {ddagger}Associate Professor, Department of Anesthesiology, Abraham Lincoln School of Medicine, University of Illinois at the Medical Center, Chicago, Illinois 60612.

Abstract

Hyperventilation of patients during surgical anesthesia is a common practice in the United States. The results obtained in the present study re-emphasize serum potassium concentration is directly proportional to arterial carbon dioxide tension, and that for every 10 torr decrease in PaCO2 there is a concomitant 0.5 mEq/L decrease in potassium. Therefore sudden and significant levels of hypokalemia may occur during the course of a general anesthetic, and since hypokalemia is known to be capable of producing serious cardiac arrhythmias, hyperventilation should be avoided during surgical anesthesia, particularly in patients on drugs which produce electrophysiologic changes similar to those resulting from hypokalemia.

Key Words: IONS, potassium • ACID-BASE EQUILIBRIUM, alkalosis • CARBON DIOXIDE, hypocarbia • VENTILATION, hypocarbia






Lippincott, Williams & Wilkins Anesthesia & Analgesia® is published for the International Anesthesia Research Society® by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins with the assistance of Stanford University Libraries' HighWire Press®. Copyright 2006 by the International Anesthesia Research Society. Online ISSN: 1526-7598   Print ISSN: 0003-2999 HighWire Press
Copyright © 1977 by the International Anesthesia Research Society.