Bellazzini Marc A, Meyer Tom
Section of Emergency Medicine, University of Wisconsin (UW) Hospital and Clinics, Madison, WI 53792, USA.
J Emerg Med. 2010 Oct;39(4):e139-41. doi: 10.1016/j.jemermed.2007.04.024. Epub 2007 Sep 10.
Hyperkalemia-induced electrocardiogram changes such as dysrhythmias and altered T wave morphology are well described in the medical literature. Pseudo-infarction hyperkalemia-induced changes are less well known, but present a unique danger for the clinician treating these critically ill patients. This article describes a case of pseudo anteroseptal myocardial infarction in a type 1 diabetic with hyperkalemia. The most common patterns of pseudo-infarct and their associated potassium concentrations are then summarized from a literature review of 24 cases.