[Aldosteronism after hypokalemia in diuretic therapy of systemic arterial hypertension].

Twenty-two cases with essential arterial hypertension were studied in the final part of a chronic period of treatment with Chlortalidona and in the first 30 days after treatment. Measurements of the following parameters were made: 1) Change in the excretion of urinary aldosterone (aldo). 2) Change in the arterial pressure (delta P). 3) Transtherapeutic serum potassium (delta K). 4) Change in the Q-T (delta QT) in the electrocardiogram. The measurements were made 3 days after the suppression of the drug and afterwards every 3 to 6 days for a month. The correlation of the K and QT was significant (r = 0.63). The P did not correlate with the K nor with the aldo (r = 0.14). The aldo was -5.92 +/- 3.1 ug./24 hs (p = 0.01) in those cases responsive to the drug. The disappearance of the antihypertensive effect occurred at 9.61 +/- 3.7 days and correlated with the normalization of the QT (r = 0.83) and the serum potassium. The delta aldo correlated with K (r = 0.56) and normalized 6.7 days after the suspension of the drug. The secondary aldosteronism participates in the parogenia of the transtherapeutic hypokalemia although with a slightly significant correlation. The important correlation between the disappearances of the antihypertensive effects and the electrocardiographic signs of hypokalemia may dwell in changes which directly or indirectly exercise the diuretic in the intracellular metabolism of K without necessarily cousing an antihypertensive effect additive of the same hypokalemia.