Hyperkalemia is a medical condition in which levels of potassium in the blood are abnormally high. It occurs when renal potassium excretion is impaired by reductions in glomerular filtration rate, tubular flow, distal sodium delivery, or by disturbance of the renin–angiotensin–aldosterone system (RAAS).
This potentially life-threatening electrolyte disorder occurs with greater frequency in patients with renal disease, heart failure, and in patients who use certain medications, such as renin–angiotensin–aldosterone system inhibitors (RAASis).
For chronic hyperkalemia, treatment goals include normalizing potassium levels and maintaining of normokalemia in order to prevent further hyperkalemia episodes, in addition to allowing patients to optimize RAASi therapy.
In a recently published Journal of the American College of Cardiology State of the Art review, practical guidance was proposed in order to treat hyperkalemia with the goal of allowing patients to remain on RAASi therapy. While these are not formal medical society guidelines, this state of the art review aims to provide strategies to treat hyperkalemia.
This informational video, led by Dr. Javed Butler, focuses on the practical guidance on the management of hyperkalemia.
Hyperkalemia is a serious medical condition that can cause cardiac arrhythmias and sudden death. It is a frequent comorbidity in patients with CKD, and those at highest risk are patients with diabetes and advanced CKD, kidney transplant recipients, and patients treated with RAASis.
Learn more about hyperkalemia in patients with CKD through this engaging infographic, which details:
Why potassium homeostasis is critical for normal cell function and what happens when it is disrupted.
Patients with diabetes are a unique group at high risk of developing hyperkalemia, which is often associated with the use of RAASis, such as angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors or angiotensin receptor blockers.
Watch this short video in which Prof. Michel Jadoul (KDIGO Co-chair and Head of Nephrology at Cliniques Universitaires Saint-Luc, Brussels, Belgium) introduces the KDIGO 2020 clinical practice guidelines for diabetes management in CKD — the first KDIGO guidelines on this subject.
Hypertension is closely related to adverse kidney and cardiovascular outcomes in patients with CKD, and the KDIGO guidelines have recently been updated following new evidence regarding blood pressure management and treatment in patients with CKD.
Watch this short video in which Prof. Michel Jadoul introduces the KDIGO 2021 clinical practice guidelines for blood pressure management in CKD — a much anticipated update to the 2012 blood pressure guidelines.
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