Kalemia

Patients with renal insufficiency following trauma present special problems in management because clinical uremia, high levels of azotemia and kalemia, and myocardial potassium intoxication develop rapidly.

One of the criteria of efficiency is the reversal of these potassium movements, with decrease of kalemia and increase of the intra-cellular cation, expressing a recovery of ATPase activity.

Various factors influence the effects of hyper and hypokalemia on the heart: the rate of the change in kalemia levels, the plasmatic concentration of remaining ions which contribute to the cell Em, and the simultaneous use of drugs.