This was becoming a major issue for us too. We were finding that many cases of spurious hyperkalaemia (primarily due to delay between bleed and spin) were not being picked up. We’ve had to have a complete re-think on sample reception logistics and we now stipulate that all primary care ‘critical’ hyperkalaemias have to be reviewed by the on call consultant biochemist before being phoned to out. These can be very difficult decisions to make!

 

Stuart

 

From: Clinical biochemistry discussion list [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Mike Addison
Sent: 01 March 2019 12:38
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Pseudohyperkalaemia

 

This year alone I have heard of 3 cases of individuals amongst a small cohort of friends  and acquaintances being contacted by their respective GP practices to be told to take themselves urgently to A&E because of high potassium results in blood taken at the GP surgery.  In the past this also happened to my wife.  The anxiety and disruption caused to these patients whose repeat potassium results were normal was considerable.  The cost implication to the NHS  is also a factor as in A&E many more tests, other than potassium, were carried out and patients were in A&E for a considerable period of time.

 

I have been too long retired to have kept up to date in this field but someone must have done audits of hyperkalaemia in samples from GP practice and the prevalence of true versus pseudohyperkalaemia in them.  Do GPs check for known causes of pseudohyperkalaemia before rushing the patient off to hospital?  Are there guidelines for this?  And is this such a problem that GP should have POCT in the surgery?

 

Are you all prepared for Brexit?

 

Dr Mike Addison

 

 

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 ------ACB discussion List Information-------- This is an open discussion list for the academic and clinical community working in clinical biochemistry. Please note, archived messages are public and can be viewed via the internet. Views expressed are those of the individual who posts and they are solely responsible for all message content. The ACB does not monitor posts. ACB Web Site http://www.acb.org.uk Green Laboratories Work http://www.laboratorymedicine.nhs.uk List Archives http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/ACB-CLIN-CHEM-GEN.html List Instructions (How to leave etc.) http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/