Cargando…

A Case of Hypokalemia Possibly Induced by Nafcillin

(1) Background: The use of intravenous antibiotics for severe infections is a common practice, either as inpatient or outpatient treatment. In the case of methicillin-susceptible Staphylococcus aureus (MSSA), nafcillin is a commonly prescribed intravenous antibiotic, given its known efficacy to trea...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Casado, Fernando, Mudunuru, Sitarama Arvind, Nasr, Rabih
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2018
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6315441/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30545049
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/antibiotics7040108
_version_ 1783384295228833792
author Casado, Fernando
Mudunuru, Sitarama Arvind
Nasr, Rabih
author_facet Casado, Fernando
Mudunuru, Sitarama Arvind
Nasr, Rabih
author_sort Casado, Fernando
collection PubMed
description (1) Background: The use of intravenous antibiotics for severe infections is a common practice, either as inpatient or outpatient treatment. In the case of methicillin-susceptible Staphylococcus aureus (MSSA), nafcillin is a commonly prescribed intravenous antibiotic, given its known efficacy to treat infections related to this organism effectively. However, it is not without side effects. (2) Methods: We present an interesting case of persistent hypokalemia in a patient after he was started on nafcillin infusion for an MSSA infection, which eventually resolved with the completion of the treatment. (3) Results: Hypokalemia is a known side effect of nafcillin infusion, and it is believed to be mainly due to its antibiotic effect as a non-absorbable ion in the distal tubule and/or intracellular redistribution due to volume depletion. (4) Conclusions: A review of the available literature revealed that hypokalemia is a known side effect of nafcillin infusion; however, if present, it is usually mild, and only a few cases of severe hypokalemia have been reported. Usually, hypokalemia resolves when the nafcillin infusion is stopped; however, in certain cases, when this is not possible, oral potassium replacement can be used while the patient is receiving nafcillin. Clinicians should be aware of this rare, but possible, complication when using nafcillin.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-6315441
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2018
publisher MDPI
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-63154412019-01-11 A Case of Hypokalemia Possibly Induced by Nafcillin Casado, Fernando Mudunuru, Sitarama Arvind Nasr, Rabih Antibiotics (Basel) Case Report (1) Background: The use of intravenous antibiotics for severe infections is a common practice, either as inpatient or outpatient treatment. In the case of methicillin-susceptible Staphylococcus aureus (MSSA), nafcillin is a commonly prescribed intravenous antibiotic, given its known efficacy to treat infections related to this organism effectively. However, it is not without side effects. (2) Methods: We present an interesting case of persistent hypokalemia in a patient after he was started on nafcillin infusion for an MSSA infection, which eventually resolved with the completion of the treatment. (3) Results: Hypokalemia is a known side effect of nafcillin infusion, and it is believed to be mainly due to its antibiotic effect as a non-absorbable ion in the distal tubule and/or intracellular redistribution due to volume depletion. (4) Conclusions: A review of the available literature revealed that hypokalemia is a known side effect of nafcillin infusion; however, if present, it is usually mild, and only a few cases of severe hypokalemia have been reported. Usually, hypokalemia resolves when the nafcillin infusion is stopped; however, in certain cases, when this is not possible, oral potassium replacement can be used while the patient is receiving nafcillin. Clinicians should be aware of this rare, but possible, complication when using nafcillin. MDPI 2018-12-12 /pmc/articles/PMC6315441/ /pubmed/30545049 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/antibiotics7040108 Text en © 2018 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Case Report
Casado, Fernando
Mudunuru, Sitarama Arvind
Nasr, Rabih
A Case of Hypokalemia Possibly Induced by Nafcillin
title A Case of Hypokalemia Possibly Induced by Nafcillin
title_full A Case of Hypokalemia Possibly Induced by Nafcillin
title_fullStr A Case of Hypokalemia Possibly Induced by Nafcillin
title_full_unstemmed A Case of Hypokalemia Possibly Induced by Nafcillin
title_short A Case of Hypokalemia Possibly Induced by Nafcillin
title_sort case of hypokalemia possibly induced by nafcillin
topic Case Report
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6315441/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30545049
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/antibiotics7040108
work_keys_str_mv AT casadofernando acaseofhypokalemiapossiblyinducedbynafcillin
AT mudunurusitaramaarvind acaseofhypokalemiapossiblyinducedbynafcillin
AT nasrrabih acaseofhypokalemiapossiblyinducedbynafcillin
AT casadofernando caseofhypokalemiapossiblyinducedbynafcillin
AT mudunurusitaramaarvind caseofhypokalemiapossiblyinducedbynafcillin
AT nasrrabih caseofhypokalemiapossiblyinducedbynafcillin