Department of Endocrinology, Xiaogan Hospital Affiliated with Wuhan University of Science and Technology, The Central Hospital of Xiaogan, Xiaogan, Hubei, China.
Medical College, Wuhan University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China.
Front Endocrinol (Lausanne). 2024 May 30;15:1321610. doi: 10.3389/fendo.2024.1321610. eCollection 2024.
Hypokalemia is a common clinical condition that can lead to muscle weakness, difficulty breathing, malignant arrhythmias, and even death. This report describes two cases of severe hypokalemia resulting from the use of electronic cigarettes containing etomidate, both accompanied by varying degrees of adrenal hyperplasia. In both cases, the patients were admitted to the hospital with lower limb weakness and difficulty walking. Relevant examinations revealed low blood potassium, low cortisol, high adrenocorticotropic hormone, low renin, and low aldosterone levels in the patients, with Case 2 also having significant hypertension. In both cases, adrenal CT scans showed thickening of the adrenal glands. After the delivery of potassium supplementation in both cases, blood potassium levels gradually returned to normal and muscle strength gradually improved. The case reports are followed by a review of the literature on etomidate and its related mechanisms of action with discussion of its association with hypokalemia.
低钾血症是一种常见的临床病症，可导致肌肉无力、呼吸困难、恶性心律失常，甚至死亡。本报告描述了两例因使用含有依托咪酯的电子烟而导致严重低钾血症的病例，均伴有不同程度的肾上腺增生。在这两例病例中，患者均因下肢无力和行走困难而入院。相关检查显示，患者血钾降低，皮质醇降低，促肾上腺皮质激素升高，肾素降低，醛固酮降低，病例 2 还伴有明显的高血压。在这两例病例中，肾上腺 CT 扫描均显示肾上腺增厚。两例患者均接受补钾治疗后，血钾水平逐渐恢复正常，肌肉力量逐渐改善。病例报告后，我们对依托咪酯及其相关作用机制的文献进行了复习，并讨论了其与低钾血症的关系。
