Beziehungen zwischen extrazellulärer Kaliumkonzentration, elektrokardiographischem Erregungsablauf und kardialer Leistungsfähigkeit

The effects of hyperpotassaemia on cardiac performance

“…Kroetz and Ryan (1 962) observed a decrease of cardiac output in patients with heart failure after intravenous injection of 60 mmol KCI. More recently Schwarzbach (1970) studied the cardiac effect of the oral administration of 80 mmol KCI in patients with heart failure and found that cardiac output and left ventricular max dp/dt decreased when the concentration of serum K rose above 5.6 mmol/l. Both our present experimental study and the clinical observations cited above suggest that elevated serum K concentration may have a more significant negative inotropic effect in the failing heart.…”