Hello and welcome to the zero to finals podcast. My name is Tom and in this episode I'm going to be

talking to you about hypercalemia. And you can find written notes on this topic at zero to finals.com

slash hypercalemia or in the renal medicine section of the second edition of the zero to finals medicine book.

And you can find flashcards and questions to train your knowledge on this content and help you remember

the information longer at members.0.0.com. So let's get straight into it.

Hypercalemia refers to a raised serum potassium, a raised potassium level in the blood.

The main complication of hypercolemia is cardiac arrhythmias such as ventricular fibrillation,

which can lead to cardiac arrest.

Let's go through the ranges for the serum potassium levels and what they mean,

and the units for these levels are millimoles per litre.

A normal range for potassium is 3.5 to 5.3.

Mild hypercalemia is 5.4 to 5.3. Mild hypercalaemia is 5.4 to 5.9.

Moderate hypercilemia is 6.0 to 6.4

and severe hyperclemia is 6.5 and above.

Let's go through the causes of hypercalaemia. Conditions that can cause a

raised serum potassium include acute kidney injury, chronic kidney disease typically stage

four or five, rhabdomyalysis, adrenal insufficiency, and tumolysis syndrome.

There are four classes of medications that can cause a raised serum potassium, and these are

worth remembering.

Aldosterone antagonists, for example, spironylactone and a pleranone, ACE inhibitors, for example ramapril, angiotensin-2

receptor blockers, for example candisartan, and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs or ensades,

for example ibuprofen or naproxin. Hemolysis, which is the rupture of blood cells, which occurs during blood sampling, can give

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