But a memory stirred in the back of Aris’s mind—a lecture from his residency days, a rare side effect that most textbooks mentioned in a single sentence, if at all.
"If we don't stop it, his heart stops," Aris said, pointing at the screen. "It's the heparin. It’s suppressing his aldosterone. It’s rare, but it happens. Unfractionated heparin, specifically, can cause hyperkalemia." does heparin cause hyperkalemia
: Lower aldosterone levels reduce the body's ability to excrete potassium through the kidneys, leading to its accumulation in the blood. But a memory stirred in the back of
"Start Calcium Gluconate, ten units," Aris barked at the nurse, a veteran named Sarah. "And give the insulin-and-dextrose protocol. We need to drive that potassium into the cells before his heart stops." It’s suppressing his aldosterone
The patient was Mr. Henderson, a 68-year-old admitted for a severe exacerbation of COPD. Beyond his struggling lungs, his history was relatively clean—no kidney disease, no heart failure. He had been stable for two days, weaning off the ventilator, until the evening labs came back.
While heparin is more famous for side effects like bleeding or heparin-induced thrombocytopenia (HIT), its effect on potassium is a common but often overlooked "hidden" complication. Research suggests that mild hyperkalemia occurs in approximately of patients receiving heparin. How Heparin Causes High Potassium (Mechanism)
Mr. Henderson survived the night. And Dr. Aris Thorne added a new thread to the pattern he trusted so deeply—one that reminded him that even the most routine drugs could hide lethal secrets.