EMERGENCY CASEBOOK
Atropine-resistant bradycardia due to hyperkalaemia
1 Emergency Department, Bristol Royal Infirmary, Bristol, UK
2 Great Western Hospital, Swindon, UK
Correspondence to:
Dr T J Slade, Bristol Royal Infirmary, Emergency Department, Marlborough Street, Bristol BS2 8HW, UK; tobyslade{at}hotmail.com
Symptomatic sinus bradycardia is routinely treated in the emergency department with atropine and pacing. Two cases are presented that illustrate the importance of considering hyperkalaemia, particularly in the presence of atropine-resistant symptomatic bradycardia. The administration of calcium in such cases acts to stabilise the myocardium and resolve the bradycardia. Blood gas analysis provides a rapid estimate of serum potassium concentrations, facilitating timely treatment.
CiteULike 
Complore 
Connotea 
Del.icio.us 
Digg 
Reddit 
Technorati What's this?
- Full Text
- Full Text (PDF)
- Submit a response
- Alert me when this article is cited
- Alert me when eLetters are posted
- Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
- Email this link to a friend
- Similar articles in this journal
- Similar articles in PubMed
- Add article to my folders
- Download to citation manager
- Request Permissions
Citing Articles
Google Scholar
PubMed
Topic Collections
Bookmark with
Register for free content
The full back archive is now available for all BMJ Journals. Institutional subscribers may access the entire archive as part of their subscription. Personal subscribers will also have access to all content when logged in. Non-subscribers who register have free access to all articles published before 2006 right back to volume 1 issue 1. Register here to access the free archive of all BMJ Journals.
Don't forget to sign up for content alerts so you keep up to date with all the articles as they are published.
