Life threatening hypokalemia and quadriparesis in a patient with ureterosigmoidostomy.

We report quadriparesis as a result of severe hypokalemia and acidosis in a 15-years-old young man who had undergone ureterosigmoidostomy for bladder extrophy 3 months earlier. The patient was initially mistakenly diagnosed to be a case of Guillain-Barre syndrome. On investigations acidosis and profound hypokalemia were present. Dramatic improvement occurred after correction of hypokalemia and acidosis with intravenous potassium and bicarbonate. The underlying mechanism as well as the treatment of hyperchloremic metabolic acidosis and hypokalemia after ureterosigmoidostomy are hereby discussed.