Letter

Hyperkalaemia

Avoiding spurious hyperkalaemia

BMJ 2009; 339 doi: 10.1136/bmj.b4823 (Published 17 November 2009)
Cite this as: BMJ 2009;339:b4823

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  1. Rousseau Gama, chemical pathologist1,
  2. Michael Cornes, trainee clinical scientist1,
  3. Clare Ford, consultant clinical scientist1
  1. 1Clinical Chemistry, New Cross Hospital, Wolverhampton WV10 0QP
  1. rousseau.gama{at}rwh-tr.nhs.uk

    A common but often unrecognised cause of spurious hyperkalaemia1 is sample contamination with potassium ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (kEDTA), a widely used sample tube anticoagulant for laboratory assays. kEDTA contamination may account for 25% of samples with unexpected hyperkalaemia from patients in both primary and secondary care,2 3 and if unrecognised …

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