The devil is in the details: Approach to refractory hypokalemia

Abstract

A 71-year-old man was told by his primary care physician to go to the emergency department for evaluation of asymptomatic hypokalemia detected on outpatient laboratory testing. He had a history of coronary artery disease, hypertension, gout, and atrial fi brillation. He reported that his father and brother had well-controlled hypertension diagnosed in adulthood. He was a former smoker but denied alcohol consumption. Recently, he had been exercising daily and following a diet to lose weight. He had visited his primary care physician because of new-onset lower-extremity edema