title: Brugada-like electrocardiographic patterns induced by hyperkalemia.
abstract: Brugada syndrome was described in 1992 as a new clinical and electrocardiographic syndrome involving susceptibility to ventricular arrhythmias and sudden cardiac death in patients with no obvious structural heart disease. Brugada syndrome is characterized by a hereditary anomaly in the sodium ion channel (mutation of the SCN5A gene) identified by a wide QRS associated with the ST-segment elevation and the T‑wave inversion in the right precordial leads. The Brugada-like electrocardiographic pattern can be caused by sodium channel-blocking drugs and electrolyte disorders. Hyperkalemia may produce multiple ECG abnormalities, including the ST-segment elevation and pseudomyocardial infarction with a resolution of these abnormalities after the correction of hyperkalemia. This article describes 8 cases of pseudoanteroseptal myocardial infarction in acute renal insufficiency with hyperkalemia. The ST-segment elevation related to hyperkalemia is resolved by the reduced serum potassium level. Clinicians should recognize that hyperkalemia is one of the etiologies of the Brugada-like electrocardiographic pattern.
authors.affiliation: Department of Intensive Care, Republican Hospital of Kaunas, Lithuania.
authors.forename: Dagmara
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Reingardienė
authors.forename: Jolita
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Vilčinskaitė
authors.forename: Diana
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Bilskienė
mesh_terms: D058186:Acute Kidney Injury / Q000150:complications; D000328:Adult; D053840:Brugada Syndrome / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000191:economics / Q000503:physiopathology; D004562:Electrocardiography; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006947:Hyperkalemia / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009203:Myocardial Infarction / Q000150:complications