Seong-Wook Lee, Man-Hoon Han, Mee-Seon Kim, Yong-Jin Kim, You Hyun Jeon, Hee-Yeon Jung, Ji-Young Choi, Jang-Hee Cho, Sun-Hee Park, Chan-Duck Kim, Yong-Lim Kim, Jeong-Hoon Lim
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引用次数: 0
Abstract
Background: Hypokalemia can result from various causes, with diarrhea being one of the most common. Although rare, chronic hypokalemia can lead to severe acute kidney injury (AKI) that requires dialysis. Therefore, this case study aims to investigate a patient with rectal cancer who, after concurrent chemoradiotherapy and ileostomy, developed chronic hypokalemia owing to prolonged diarrhea, leading to severe AKI with anuria.
Case presentation: A 64-year-old man with a history of rectal cancer, ileostomy, and hypertension was admitted for severe AKI with anuria. He had developed severe hypokalemia due to chronic diarrhea. Despite having no prior kidney disease, his serum creatinine increased to 4.8 mg/dL, and potassium dropped to 2.2 mmol/L. Initial treatment included hemodialysis for anuric AKI with metabolic acidosis. A kidney biopsy revealed renal tubular vacuolization and With-no-lysine kinase (WNK) bodies in the distal tubules, which are characteristic of hypokalemic nephropathy. Potassium replacement therapy led to a gradual recovery of potassium levels and kidney function.
Conclusion: This case highlights the importance of timely diagnosis and management of hypokalemic nephropathy through kidney biopsy.
期刊介绍:
BMC Nephrology is an open access journal publishing original peer-reviewed research articles in all aspects of the prevention, diagnosis and management of kidney and associated disorders, as well as related molecular genetics, pathophysiology, and epidemiology.