A 48 year old woman recently commenced chemotherapy for a new diagnosis of acute myeloid leukaemia. She attends the Day Bed Unit to have routine bloods checked prior to her next dose of chemotherapy. Since her last assessment, she sprained her ankle and is taking regular ibuprofen.
She also reports recent symptoms of muscle aches and cramps, diarrhoea, tingling in her fingers, and has been feeling extremely tired. The Haematology registrar contacts the Critical Care team because the patient’s serum potassium result is 7.6 mmol/L and a venous blood gas also shows the ionised calcium to be 0.5 mmol/L.
