hypoxia research::blog

Two cases of hyperkalemia after administration of hypertonic mannitol during craniotomy

Kiichi Hirota, Tomoko Hara, Satoshi Hosoi, Yukiko Sasaki, Yasufumi Hara and Takehiko Adachi

Jounal of Anesthesia, In press

Mannitol is used commonly as an osmotic diuretic to reduce intracranial pressure during the perioperative period of craniotomy. The rapid administration of mannitol solution can cause an imbalance of electrolytes such as sodium and potassium. However, how often these electrolyte disturbances occur are not known during craniotomy. Here, we report two cases of mannitol-induced hyperkalemia and a retrospective study on the change of blood potassium iron concentration before and after mannitol infusion. We demonstrate that administration of mannitol during craniotomy increases potassium iron concentration frequently and in some cases it may cause hyperkalemia with disturbance of cardiac function.