Document Detail


Geophagia. A cause of life-threatening hyperkalemia in patients with chronic renal failure.
MedLine Citation:
PMID:  1242456     Owner:  NLM     Status:  MEDLINE    
Abstract/OtherAbstract:
Geophagia has been associated with life-threatening hyperkalemia in five patients with chronic renal failure. All five patients were black and had been born in the southeastern United States. Four had had frequent hyperkalemia requiring at least one hospitalization, and two had had hyperkalemia with serum potassium concentration as high as 9.8 mEq/liter, resulting in cardiac arrest in one and paralysis, disorientation, and cardiac arrythmia in the other. Since riverbed clay contains as much as 100 mEq of potassium in 100 gm of clay, much of which is exchangeable at acid pH, the mechanism of geophagia-induced hyperkalemia appears to be the absorption of potassium released from clay after ingestion. After discontinuing geophagia, no new hyperkalemic episodes occurred in these patients.
Authors:
M C Gelfand; A Zarate; J H Knepshield
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Publication Detail:
Type:  Case Reports; Journal Article    
Journal Detail:
Title:  JAMA : the journal of the American Medical Association     Volume:  234     ISSN:  0098-7484     ISO Abbreviation:  JAMA     Publication Date:  1975 Nov 
Date Detail:
Created Date:  1976-01-08     Completed Date:  1976-01-08     Revised Date:  2007-11-15    
Medline Journal Info:
Nlm Unique ID:  7501160     Medline TA:  JAMA     Country:  UNITED STATES    
Other Details:
Languages:  eng     Pagination:  738-40     Citation Subset:  AIM; IM    
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MeSH Terms
Descriptor/Qualifier:
Adult
African Continental Ancestry Group
Aged
Arrhythmias, Cardiac / etiology
Female
Heart Arrest / etiology
Humans
Hyperkalemia / complications,  etiology*
Kidney Failure, Chronic / complications*
Male
Middle Aged
Paralysis / etiology
Pica / complications*
Potassium / analysis
Soil / analysis
United States
Chemical
Reg. No./Substance:
0/Soil; 7440-09-7/Potassium

From MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine


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